In 2008 ARFD did not see struggle’s end, now it sees solutions

Five years ago ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Party did not join the opposition because it did not see the end of the struggle, whereas today it has joined the opposition because definite solutions can be seen, the head of ARFD faction Armen Rustamian stated during a briefing at the National Assembly today.

“You should not enter into a struggle when you don’t see its end. At that time we saw that the struggle could lead to deaths. If you remember, during those rallies we called for peace saying that path was a path of bloodshed, and our predictions came true. Who will be responsible for those ten deaths? Did our country benefit? No,” Rustamian said.

Asked why ARFD has now joined Raffi Hovannisian, the head of ARFD faction said that he had explained the reasons in his first speech in Liberty Square.

“First, the majority of our people are there, secondly, the current goal is to move forward by legal, constitutional means, and thirdly, there is a prospect of a concrete agenda and concrete solutions, which we consider very important,” he noted.

In his words, if the three proposals are carried out, that is to say, if the system of governance is changed and a parliamentary system is adopted, serious changes will occur in Armenia.

Rustamian said that we will have a new Armenia only in case of adopting a 100% proportional election system, holding new parliamentary elections, and transferring control functions to the opposition as a counterbalance to the authorities.