Many already show pre-election tendencies, but the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) considers it early to take pre-election initiatives, “RPA” parliament faction’s member Artak Zakarian stated during the discussion “The Tendencies of Pre-election Struggle in Armenia and the Opportunities of Cooperation between Political Forces” on September 26. He said that it is also early to speak about cooperation with other political forces at the upcoming parliamentary elections. “Our aim is to take a step forward for organizing democratic elections,” he said. According to “Orinats Yerkir Party” faction’s member Hovhannes Margarian, they are ready to cooperate with all political forces to help hold fair and democratic elections. “It does not matter to us who we will cooperate with, but it is important what we will cooperate on,” representative of “Heritage” faction Armen Martirosian noted. He added that the upcoming national elections are of special importance as the international community pays great attention to them. Chairman of People’s Party Tigran Karapetian said that there is no democracy (about which there has been much talk) in Armenia because “people not held in respect are elected NA deputies, while the society is passive”. At the same time he expressed a wish that snap elections would be held and an end would be put to the current ruling system. “Unless snap elections are held, the same persons will be elected and the situation will not improve in Armenia,” Tigran Karapetian said, adding that the conditions in Armenia have been good under none of the three presidents.

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