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Wounded Armenian Candidate Plans To Delay Election

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  • Wounded Armenian Candidate Plans To Delay Election

    WOUNDED ARMENIAN CANDIDATE PLANS TO DELAY ELECTION

    (c) AFP 2013
    21:01 08/02/2013

    YEREVAN, February 8 (RIA Novosti) - Armenian presidential candidate
    Paruyr Hayrikyan, who was shot in the shoulder last week, said he
    plans to appeal to Armenia's Constitutional Court with a request to
    postpone the vote by two weeks.

    "I will ask the court to delay the election if I am unable to continue
    the election campaign," Hayrikyan said, adding that at present he
    cannot participate in the vote for health reasons.

    Earlier this week, Hayrikyan said he had no intention of delaying
    the election, to avoid promoting further instability in the country.

    However, he later said he had changed his mind under pressure from
    his supporters.

    Manya Ayvazyan, Hayrikyan's campaign manager, told RIA Novosti on
    Friday that the candidate wants his request to the Constitutional
    Court to be dated February 10.

    If within four days - the period needed for the court to consider the
    request - Hayrikyan's condition improves, the candidate will waive
    the request to postpone the election, she said.

    The 63-year-old leader of the Union for National Self-Determination
    was shot near his house in the capital Yerevan late on January 31. The
    bullet was later safely removed during surgery.

    Armenia's oonstitution states that elections can be delayed for two
    weeks if a candidate faces "insurmountable circumstances."

    Such a delay would have to be initially requested by the candidate
    himself, and then it is up to the country's Constitutional Court
    to decide on the issue, David Arutunyan, who chairs Armenia's
    parliamentary commission on legal issues, said last week.

    Hayrikyan is one of eight candidates running in Armenia's presidential
    election on February 18, which analysts predict is likely to bring
    incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan back for a second term.

    An opinion poll held in Armenia by the Russian state pollster VTsIOM
    in late January found that some 61 percent of respondents would back
    Sargsyan, while only five percent said they were ready to vote for
    Hayrikyan. Some 27 percent the respondents said they support Heritage
    party leader Raffi Hovannisian.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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