“There will be diversity, but not competition in presidential election”

It is obvious that the upcoming presidential election on February 18 will not be rigged, and this has to do not only with the nominated candidates. Political scientist Stepan Grigorian expressed this opinion, when discussing the upcoming election with the correspondent of Aysor.am.

In his words, the parliamentary elections showed that nevertheless, Armenia is on the correct path and the quality of elections is improving.

S. Grigorian said there are no preconditions for vote rigging this time. “Taking into account the fact that the incumbent President has no serious rivals, there is no reason to use administrative resource and distribute presents and bribes. All the candidates will be given equal chances and the election will be held in a normal atmosphere,” Grigorian noted.

The political scientist ruled out the possibility of a presidential run-off. “We will have a minor problem: because of such candidates, there will be no competition, but a fair, democratic and transparent election will be held and the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan will be re-elected without a run-off”.

Stepan Grigorian stressed that the “class” of Serzh Sargsyan is different from that of the other candidates, yet there are one or two well-known candidates who will ensure the so-called diversity, but not competition in the election.

As regards the possible runner-up, Grigorian believes that Raffi Hovannisian has been engaged in active politics so he is likely to finish second, but, in the political scientist’s opinion, the leader of Heritage Party will receive a small number of votes.

When asked to name presidential candidates whose participation would make the election competitive, Grigorian said that it might be any candidate of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), as well as first President Levon Ter-Petrosian.