Richard Giragosian: Upcoming presidential election not competitive

“There is one important aspect related to the upcoming election: it is not competitive, Serzh Sargsyan will be re-elected, but the lack of competition between the candidates means that the election process itself should be freer and fairer,” Director of the Regional Studies Center Richard Giragosian told “168 Hours” daily.

Giragosian said there is another, new aspect regarding the upcoming presidential election. In his opinion, although Serzh Sargsyan will probably be re-elected, in fact, this is going to be his first term as president, rather than the second one because the whole first term was spent eliminating the consequences of the 2008 postelection crisis, achieving legitimacy he initially lacked, and distancing himself from Robert Kocharian and the March 1 events.