Press-conference in Yerevan Liberty Square: Protesting ex-candidate names future Yerevan mayor (video)

The opposition Heritage party’s leader, Raffi Hovhannisian, said Thursday that he expects their own candidate to win the upcoming City Council elections in Yerevan. 

The party's joint list, entitled Barev Yerevan (Hello Yerevan), was unveiled at the Thursday news conference in Liberty Square (where Hovhannisian is now holding a hunger-strike). The top candidate is Armen Martirosyan, the party’s deputy leader.

A spokesperson for the party, Hovsep Khurshudyan, said later that they have registered scholars, cultural figures, journalists and other civil activists. After hearing the names, the Heritage leader pronounced Martirosyan the capital’s future mayor.

The second placed candidate in last month’s presidential election, Hovhannisian went on a hunger-strike last Sunday, urging the re-elected president to step down. Hovhannisian claims the election was rigged to secure Serzh Sargsyan’s second term.

But Hovhannisian is now hopeful that cooperation with the authorities will be possible after the municipal elections.

The politician said, “Our pan-national awakening is not going to replace the mayoral election; it is just one front of the continuing struggle.

“We attach importance to any election, realizing the reality we are living in. But we will change that reality, which we have actually done already. What we must do now is to bring that to a logical end,” he said, promising to make the April 9 inauguration day the birthday of his New Armenia.

Addressing the possibility of new discussions with Serzh Sargsyan, the Heritage leader said he is ready to meet the president in any place to hear his proposals.

“If they have a pan-national solution, I am ready for that,” Hovhannisian said.

The US-born politician further spoke of his parents’ visit to Armenia.

“Richard and Varditer [Hovhannisian’s father and mother] have educated me as a real Armenian. I haven’t attended an Armenian school, so I have learned the lessons of language, statehood and devotion to our nation from them. It is a great blessing that they have joined me to express their solidarity,” he said.

The former candidate noted jokingly that his hunger-strike may offer comfort to his mother who is concerned by what he described as his excess weight.

Hovhannisyan said at the end that he expects the next opposition rally (scheduled for tomorrow) to bring together a larger crowd of people.