Vahagn Khachatryan Will Serve the Interests of the Political Team, Vardevanyan

Discussions around the presidential candidate begin today. This was stated by Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the 'Armenia' alliance faction, in a conversation with journalists in the National Assembly regarding their presidential candidate.

'This government has even declared that they do not expect their candidate to have three-fourths, which means they are already thinking about the second round,' he said, noting that although the government had announced that they would wait until the deadline for Armen Sarkissian's resignation request to expire before discussing the candidacy, they themselves violated their statement just 2-3 days later.

'Vahagn Khachatryan is in any case a member of the political team. The Constitution states that the president must be guided by national and state interests,' he said, expressing concern that Vahagn Khachatryan, having been a minister, would serve the interests of the political team.

'If he is from the HAK (Armenian National Congress), that is also a problem, which means you have party affiliation. It is true that the president should be non-partisan, somewhat apolitical. Despite all the shortcomings of his tenure, Armen Sarkissian met these requirements and was elected with three-fourths,' he added, pointing out that this government wants a president from one force, as was the case with the Human Rights Defender.