Political expert: Armenia will see competition at presidential election, but not between Serzh Sargsyan and the other 7 candidates

• Thursday, January 24, 19:08

Armenia will surely see a competition during the Jan 18 presidential election, but not between the incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan and the other 7 candidates, Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan told journalists on Thursday.  

"I think the competition will be between Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan. I am convinced that the number of their votes really matters to them. Not everything ends in presidential election, their political activity will continue after Feb 18", Iskandaryan said. 

Besides the incumbent President Sargsyan, the main participants in the presidential election are Leader of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian, who is quite well aware of Armenia's problems, and Chairman of Liberty Party, ex-Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan who headed the Government during the difficult 1990s.  At the same time, Iskandaryan said that Paruyr Hayrikyan, Head of the National Self-Determination Union, well-known dissident in the Soviet times,
may also receive a certain number of votes.