Kocharyan about assassination attempt on Paruyr Hayrikyan: "It was a political crime."

An assassination attempt on a presidential candidate in Armenia has thrown into doubt and could threaten stability in the volatile Caucasus region, reports Reuters.

An assassination attempt on a presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan in Armenia has thrown this month's election into doubt and could threaten stability in the volatile Caucasus region, writes Reuters, mentioning that that region carries oil and natural gas to Europe.

Reuters mentiones, that any sign of instability in the Caucasus is a concern to investors because although Armenia has no pipelines of its own, pipelines carry oil and gas to Europe via Turkey through Azerbaijan, which still has fractious relations with Armenia.

Russia has a military base in Armenia, which is a member of a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet states.

Lurer.com talked about this with political technologist Karen Kocharyan.

"It would be a wrong opinion for me to assess publication of Reuters, but in any matter, we can say it "can", but the likelihood of destabilization in the Caucasus, in my opinion, is low," Kocharyan said.

Referring to the assassination attempt on Paruyr Hayrikyan the political technologist said that it was a political crime.

To note, Paruyr Hayrikyan, an outsider in the February 18 presidential vote, was shot in the shoulder on January 31 night close to his home in the capital Yerevan. Doctors removed the bullet on Friday and said his life was not in danger.

Legal proceedings were instituted under Article 34-305 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (attempted murder of a statesman, political or public figure committed for termination of his activities and shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years, or life imprisonment).

A joint investigation group consisting of law enforcement officers and National Security Service employees has been created. The case is under the jurisdiction of the National Security Service.

According to the Constitution of Armenia, in the event of insurmountable obstacles for a candidate, the election of the president is postponed for two weeks.

Immediately after the attack there were talks about a possible postponement of the presidential election, because now Hayrikyan is unable to continue the campaign, but the CEC head Tigran Mukuchyan called these assumptions "misleading", proposing to wait until the situation is clarified with the health of the candidate.

The Armenian presidential election will be held on Feb. 18 from 08:00 to 20:00 local time. These will be the sixth elections in Armenia's history. The president is elected for a term of five years.

Those running for the presidency are the incumbent president and ruling Republican Party leader Serzh Sargsyan, former Prime Minister Grant Bagratyan, chairman of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovhannisyan, Paruyr Hayrikyan, Arman Melikyan, Andreas Ghukasyan, Vardan Setrakyan and the leader of the National Accord Party Aram Harutyunyan.