Hovannisian Candidacy Rejected

It comes as no surprise, but RFE/RL reports that Armenia’s first foreign minister, U.S. born Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian, is unlikely to have his candidacy for the presidential election accepted. The news came from a top aide to the Armenian president, Robert Kocharian.

Hovannisian’s Zharangutyun (Heritage) Party renewed the demand in an appeal to Kocharian on Wednesday. It argued that Hovannisian had served as independent Armenia’s first foreign minister and is now one of the country’s most popular political figures. Some local commentators speculated that the authorities might allow him to run this time around in order to further split the opposition vote and weaken their most uncompromising challenger, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian.

But according to Stepan Safarian, a senior Zharangutyun parliamentarian, the influential chief of Kocharian’s staff, Armen Gevorgian, reaffirmed the Armenian president’s position on the issue on Friday in an “extensive letter” to the party. “The letter said that the current president’s 2001 decree can not be revised,” Safarian told RFE/RL.

Safarian said that although the opposition party believes that Kocharian’s refusal is illegal and unsubstantiated, it is unlikely to challenge the move in court. “I don’t think we will go to court, even though that issue has not been discussed,” he said, arguing that Armenian judges rarely rule against the executive authority.

Hovannisian had already unsuccessfully challenged the presidential administration in local courts ahead of the last presidential election held in 2003. He has not yet indicated whether he will endorse another opposition candidate or urge his supporters to boycott the 2008 election if he is again barred from the presidential race.

Meanwhile, a pro-government party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) is reported to be wooing opposition parties in its plans to field a candidate for the election. The historical party with members in Armenia and the Diaspora has already ruled out supporting the prime minister, Serzh Sarkisian, in his bid to succeed the incumbent, Robert Kocharian.

According to the “Zhamanak Yerevan” newspaper, Dashnaktsutyun has offered Raffi Hovannisian and Vazgen Manukian high-ranking government position in return for their endorsement of its presidential candidate. The paper claimed that Manukian would become prime minister and Hovannisian foreign minister in the event of Dashnaktsutyun’s victory in the February 19 election.

Dashnaktsutyun leaders have held election-related consultations with both opposition figures, who intend to run for president, in recent days.

Hovannisian, who is one the pro-establishment party’s two potential presidential nominees, was asked by RFE/RL to comment on the report: “We are discussing with various political forces the entire course of the presidential elections and what needs to be done after them, but there are no such agreements,” he said.

Manukian flatly denied the report. “Such issues have never been discussed,” he said.

Manukian added that he and the Dashnaktsutyun candidate could well endorse each other only if one of them makes it to the possible second round of voting. Hovannisian found such a development to be “within the bonds of logic,” saying that his party had already supported the leader of the opposition National Democratic Union (AZhM) in the 1996 presidential election.

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Hovannisian, meanwhile, could not be reached for comment. A parliament deputy from his Zharangutyun Party, said a power-sharing offer from Dashnaktsutyun is “possible.” “But I have no information regarding such agreement,” Safarian told RFE/RL.

In related news, The Armenian Observer reports that Orinats Yerkir party leader Artur Baghdasarian has endorsed various anti-electoral fraud measures proposed by former president Levon Ter Petrosian, but has stopped short of supporting the former leader in his candidacy.