Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) gave more indications on Friday that it will participate in early parliamentary elections expected in December.
A senior HHK figure, Vahram Baghdasarian, said the party will hold a conference “in the coming days” to finally decide whether to enter the parliamentary race.
“Our aim is to form a parliament befitting a parliamentary republic,” he told reporters. “We are entering the [new] National Assembly to show and restore our face. We will be a radical-constructive opposition force.”
Baghdasarian said the conference will also decide who will top the list of the HHK’s candidates in case of its participation in the elections. He declined to specify whether Sarkisian would the party’s top candidate.
Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018,has made very few public appearances and statements since mass protests led by Nikol Pashinian, the country’s current prime minister, forced him to resign in April.
According to some media reports, the HHK’s electoral list will likely be headed by former Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian, a U.S.-educated protégé of the ex-president.
The HHK won Armenia’s last parliamentary elections held in April 2017. Observers believe that it is now too unpopular to make a strong showing in December. Some of them say that it would fail to win any parliament seats.
Earlier this month, the HHK leadership tried unsuccessfully to delay the snap polls until next May or June.
Baghdasarian and another leading HHK member, Eduard Sharmazanov, argued against an election boycott when they spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service last week. Sharmazanov said the former ruling party is now Armenia’s sole genuine opposition force and must therefore be represented in the new parliament.
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