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ARMENIA DAILY DIGEST
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From: Ina Iankulova (iiankulova@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Feb 10 2003 - 13:39:09 EST
ANOTHER CANDIDATE QUITS ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Former Prime Minister Aram Sargsian announced in a televised speech on 8 February that he is withdrawing his candidacy in the 19 February presidential election in favor of People's Party of Armenia (HZhK) Chairman Stepan Demirchian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Sargsian appealed to his supporters and members of his opposition Hanrapetutiun party to campaign on behalf of Demirchian, whom opinion polls place second of the remaining nine candidates after incumbent President Robert Kocharian. Sargsian said his decision is tantamount to the creation of a new electoral alliance between Hanrapetutiun and the HZhK and a bid to revive the now-defunct Miasnutiun bloc that won a majority in the 1999 parliamentary elections. That bloc was jointly led by Demirchian's father and predecessor as HZhK chairman, Karen, and by Sargsian's brother and predecessor as premier, Vazgen Sargsian. Both men were among the eight victims of the October 1999 parliament shootings. LF
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