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Ararat Zurabyan: Republicans will not hit high in the upcoming elections (video)

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An electoral alliance in Armenia led by influential businessman Gagik Tsarukyan expects to get more than 40 percent of the vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Ararat Zurabyan, Chairman of the Pan-Armenian National Movement (HHSh) Board, says a number of sociological studies have been conducted recently which show the alliance leading ahead of the April 2 vote. Mr. Zurabyan remembers that two years ago he criticized the bourgeois-democratic revolution initiated by Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Gagik Tsarukyan, but he mainly targeted the first president [Levon Ter-Petrosyan]. “But we were not on the eve of elections and clashes were not excluded. Today the situation is different. Tsarukyan alliance has favorable conditions to get votes and form a majority [in the National Assembly] and thus carry out the long-expected change of power which no one has been able to do before them,” he said. Journalists said that Tsarukyan has never come up with a legislative initiative during the ten years in parliament. Nor has he understood the true essence and functions of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) he had established. Ararat Zurabyan preferred to speak about Tsarukyan’s advantages instead. “I am convinced that the alliance will be an alternative to the Republicans,” he said. Zurabyan, whose name is on the ticket of the alliance, believes that this time Republicans will not hit high in the upcoming elections. First, there is no precedent that the Republican Party of Armenia has formed a majority in parliament. Second, regardless of the volume of electoral fraud, different measures and types of pressure, the maximum number of votes makes 51-52 percent of voter turnout. While the candidate does not expect miracles in the upcoming elections, he does not exclude a significant decline in electoral fraud. “If we manage to hold normal elections, I think the Republicans will not only be unable to form a majority but will also fall behind one or two political forces in the number of votes. Ararat Zurabyan is convinced that he will take a seat in the next parliament.