YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–At its special congress–held Thursday–the Democratic Party of Armenia agreed on the nomination of candidate DPA Chairman Aram Sargssian for presidency.
"In 1996–we made some ideological concessions–because we wanted to remove the authorities as soon as possible. Now–the situation has changed and we are operating at our own pace," Sargssian said in his speech.
Sargssian said that to become president is not an end in itself for him. Through the office of president–he said he will try to do everything so that the mistakes of the past never reoccur. In particular–Sargssian said it is necessary to study and analyze the period in which the Armenian National Movement was in power–identify its errors and punish those responsible. "We cannot take on a false human’st image. The guilty must take the responsibility for whatever wrong they committed–so that their followers do not continue the pattern. We want no blood–but justice and truth," he said.
According to Sargssian–thusfar the election process has proceeded in a natural way and the candidates have a chance to enter a real competition. He made no prognosis for the outcome.
Sargssian found it difficult to answer who he will vote for–if there is a second round of voting with a single opposition candidate similar to the case in the 1996 presidential elections. Sargssian said he would wait for the presentation of platforms to make such a decision.
