The opposition parties should accept that they were unable to achieve victory - Karen Avagyan.

Karen Avagyan, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), believes Armenia’s political opposition should develop a new culture to be able to congratulate the winner candidate and the political force represented by him.

In his words, Hrazdan mayor elections demonstrated that all political parties, which supported Sasun Mikayelyan, were unable to achieve victory, even by taking advantage of the privileges which the new Electoral Code had endowed.

On the other hand, Stepan Safaryan of the Heritage parliamentary group does not think the Feb. 12 local election in Hrazdan was an occasion for the RPA to be congratulated on.

“You have gained victory both at the elections and over the people. Don`t you know what kind of frauds might have taken place,” Mr Safaryan said at a Monday debate with Mr Avagyan.

Although neither Mr Safaryan nor the Armenian MPs that observed the Hrazdan elections noticed anything extraordinary, Mr Avagyan stated that the local elections were marred by all the violations registered during the previous elections, particularly by election bribes.

Mr Avagyan noted that Sasun Mikaelyan’s election campaign office does not appeal the election results in Hrazdan. With repect to election bribes, he said that no facts have been presented.

“If they are unable to prove, it is their problem,” Avagyan said.