Serzh Sargsyan: "What should I negotiate on with a man who is bitter at the world and has been hungry for eight days?"

At a meeting with a number of Armenian media outlets on Monday Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan answered questions concerning the domestic political situation.

Serzh Sargsyan told the journalists that at his meeting with Mr Hovannisian they agreed to present written proposals to each other, but Mr Hovannisian never presented his proposals. Moreover, Raffi Hovannisian rejected Serzh Sargsyan’s proposals.

After the journalists left, President Serzh Sargsyan asked Mr Hovannisian if he believed he had won the Feb. 18 presidential election. Mr Hovannisian gave a negative answer, adding that he and his supporters were sure that Serzh Sargsyan had not won either. The Heritage party leader expressed his indignation at Serzh Sargsyan celebrating his victory, with a glass of champagne in his hand, before the election results were officially summed up. But Serzh Sargsyan answered that he had thanked his team after the CEC had reported preliminary results from constituencies. Thereafter, the two discussed the ways out of the present situation.

Raffi Hovannnisian expressed the opinion that the new election was to be held for only Armenia’s incumbent president and himself. However, he did not find any reasonable grounds for that. Raffi Hovannisian also proposed new parliamentary elections in Armenia. In response, Armenia’s president referred to the Constitution, which ruled out such a scenario under the circumstances. President Sargsyan explained that he could not resort to illegal actions or force all the MPs to resign. In response, Raffi Hovannisian said that no MP would dare go against the president’s will. Raffi Hovannisian proposed a nation-wide measure to smooth over the problem.

According to Raffi Hovannisian, a referendum on a new constitution might be such a measure, with a committee headed by Mr Hovannisian himself to prepare a draft. Armenia’s president sent his proposals to Mr Hovannisian, but he rejected the proposals.
In response to Azatutyun Radio’s question that, according to official results, Raffi Hovannisian received more than 500,000 votes, and his supporters are now attending his rallies, Armenia’s president said:

“You say that more than 500,000 people are backing him up and they are in the square. So I have sight problems – and not only I, but also most of our citizens. I have not seen 500,000 there, and not even 50,000. When they say that people are in the square it sounds strange to me. On average, 3,000 people attend the rallies in Freedom Square. First, I am not sure all of them voted for Raffi Hovannisian. Secondly, each person’s opinion is of high importance to us. But 3,000 people are only 0.1 percent of our population. So it is at least wrong to say that people are in the square. But I am placing emphasis on this question because they in the square are saying ‘people, for the people’s sake. You all know about our political dispute with the Armenian National Congress. If you remember, up to 30,000 people gathered in Freedom Square in 2008 to listen to the candidate that polled 300,000 votes. At least 10 percent of voters gathered at that time.

“What am I going to discuss with Raffi Hovannisian? I do not see any sense. I am calling on Raffi Hovannisian to end his hunger strike… And on April 9 my oath will be sincere, from the bottom of my heart.”

Sargsyan said after rejecting Hovannisian’s suggestion to call snap parliamentary elections and have a run-off of the presidential voter, he told Hovannisian that he had three options.

First: To go to Liberty Square and continue to insist that he has garnered 80 percent of the votes and attempts to create alternative structures to the authorities. In this scenario, Sarkisian said, law enforcement agencies would do what they have been tasked to do.

Second: Raffi Hovannisian continues to insist that the elections were not fair and that in reality he has garnered a higher percentage of the votes than officially announced. He then fortifies his ranks and takes part in the Yerevan municipal elections garnering the majority of the votes and becomes Mayor of Yerevan, thus the leader of two-thirds of the Republic.

Third:He ceases being part of the opposition and works within government structures to combat corruption and emigration, as he pledged during his campaign.