February 9, 2013 - 15:44 AMT
Hayrikyan urges opposition candidates to unite

Armenian presidential hopeful Paruyr Hayrikyan addressed an open letter to candidates Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan with a call to join forces.

“I was earlier informant of the wish to form a team, which was, however, left unfulfilled. My calls remained unresponded. Both Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan were too busy. A public opinion poll conducted five days ago revealed that Serzh Sargsyan garners 43-45%, with Paruyr Hayrikyan, Hrant Bagratyan and Raffi Hovannisian scoring 5-35%. However, Serzh Sargsyan would gain 30% in case of the unification of the three candidates, with the team of the three getting 67-60%.

Nomination of a common candidate would be feasible if I delay the polls for 14 days. In that case, we would be able to garner 80%. We will either win, or lose the battle.

I issue a public address. Let all those willing to go to the polls know about the chance of the program implementation you may miss. I urge everyone to use every single chance and convince Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratyan that our last chance will be a success. All the options of electing a common candidate have been readied,” the letters runs.