Levon Ter-Petrosyan, ANC leader, waives parliamentary mandate

Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia's first President, the leader of the oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC), waives the parliamentary mandate in favour of Grant Bagratyan, ex-Prime Minister of Armenia. This was announced by the leader of the ANC at today's rally in Yerevan.

"My waiving the parliamentary mandate does not mean that I stop my political activities. I cannot leave the political arena, while the country is in such a pitiful state. In any status in the ANC, I will continue to do everything possible to help the Armenian people get rid of the Kocharyan-Serzh regime," stated the leader of the ANC.

He expressed his regret that the international community, "hiding behind the struggle for democracy, in fact, for the sake of geopolitical interests, supports the vulnerable government of Armenia."

According to him, President Serzh Sargsyan and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, which won the elections, should be aware that their victory has a price and that the price stipulates a compromise regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and regarding the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. In particular, according to the ex-President, "some of the key players" try to establish the Armenian-Turkish commission of historians.

"According to preliminary information, about 600,000 votes have been fabricated, out of which 500,000 votes in favour of the Republican Party of Armenia and 50,000 votes in favour of two other political forces. At this stage, I do not intend to mention these forces; however, the people, who took participation in the election, are well aware, of which forces I speak," said Levon Zurabyan, the coordinator of the ANC.

Till present, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments from representatives of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia and of the Republican Party of Armenia with respect to the statement made by Levon Zurabyan.