Serzh Sarkisian Nominated for President

It doesn’t come as any surprise, but at least now it’s official. The ruling Republican party has nominated the prime minister, Serzh Sarkisian, as its candidate for the presidential election in Armenia to be held early next year. PanARMENIAN.Net has more.

The 11th convention of the Council of the Republican Party of Armenia nominated Serge Sargsyan for the post of President.

Serge Sargsyan was also elected head of the Republican Party of Armenia. 641 delegates supported his candidacy, none was against, 7 ballot papers were announced invalid.

648 out of 650 RPA members took part in the vote.

Armenia will hold presidential elections February 19, 2008.

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Meanwhile, following on from an opinion poll which puts the prime minister ahead of his potential rivals, another poll has been released by the Armenian Sociological Association. The results of the survey of 1,000 respondents again puts Sarkisian ahead of other possible candidates.

Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
PM Sarkisian is Favourite Candidate in Armenia
November 11, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Armenian prime minister Serge Sarkisian could become the country’s next president, according to a poll by the Armenian Sociological Association. 31.9 per cent of respondents would vote for Sarkisian in next year’s ballot.

[…]

Polling Data

Who would you vote for in the presidential election?

Serge Sarkisian

31.9%

Gagik Tsarukyan

12.0%

Artur Baghdasaryan

11.2%

Levon Ter Petrossian

3.8%

Source: Armenian Sociological Association
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Armenian adults, conducted in October 2007. Margin of error is 2.2 per cent.

Interesting to note, however, that while the prime minister support is put at between 30-40 percent in both polls, the ratings of others are not quite the same. In particular, this refers to oligarch and MP Gagik Tsarukian who is not believed to be interested in running for the 19 February vote anyway.