Legends Are Being Written: Candidate Complains About the Press

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports that Vahagn Khachaturyan, the ruling candidate for the President of Armenia, visited the National Assembly yesterday, meeting with the ruling Civil Contract faction and briefly with Alen Simonyan, who assumed presidential powers as per the Constitution.

Khachaturyan's visit aimed to familiarize himself with the ruling MPs and seek their support. During the one-and-a-half hour meeting, he dedicated much of his time to presenting his biography and expressed dissatisfaction with the journalists, claiming that they distort his biography, especially regarding his tenure as mayor, stating that legends are being written about his activities during those years.

Our sources reported that the meeting took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere, and the MPs left with a positive impression of the candidate. As is known, the National Assembly will elect him through a secret ballot.

According to the Constitution, in cases of resignation, dismissal, or death of the President, early elections for the presidency shall be conducted no sooner than 25 days and no later than 35 days after the position becomes vacant. The President is elected for a term of 7 years and can be anyone who is at least 40 years old, a citizen of Armenia during the last 6 years, permanently residing in Armenia for the last 6 years, possessing electoral rights, and fluent in Armenian.

In the first round, the President is elected by at least three-quarters of the votes of the total number of MPs. In the second round, a candidate must receive three-fifths of the votes, meaning that a President will not be elected in the first round due to the opposition's boycott, while in the second round, the ruling majority will independently choose its candidate.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the presidential election will take place within 10 days after February 25.

Details in today's issue of the newspaper.