I Can’t Say Everything Is In The Past

Interview with Stepan Safaryan, vice-president of the Heritage Party

There is much talking about rearrangements in autumn. What kind of rearrangements do you expect?

All the rearrangements will be related to the presidential elections. The political life will be rearranged as much as it had to after the parliamentary elections. There may be unions and alliances. But all this will depend on who the presidential candidates will be and whom the society will support.

What blocs do you expect?

I repeat everything will depend on who the candidates will be. In this case the political forces will have to decide whether to support them or will leave it up to their voters to decide. All this will bring about rearrangements.

Do you think a joint oppositional candidate for president is possible?

The opposition has such an opportunity but this does not mean it will be used. Time will show.

Are external factors related to rearrangements and elections?

External factors influence these processes a lot. By and large, when the political forces make decisions they take into account the external factors trying to impart their union with an ideology and policy. Consequently, the political forces that have closer approaches may cooperate.

Can we say the pro-Russian PAP or ARF Dashnaktsutyun and pro-Western Heritage can’t cooperate due to their foreign political positions?

Every political force understands something different by saying cooperation. To Heritage cooperation is when the same issue is highlighted by more than one political force. In this sense, Heritage cooperated with all the political forces. But others understand something different, so the situation gets complicated. Depending on how much Heritage and the others will have in common relating to the content of the cooperation, it will be possible to dwell on cooperation with other forces. There have been cases when the PAP, being a coalition member and having disagreements with it, cooperated with Heritage within the frameworks of standing committees or NA voting process. The important factor for Heritage was that its priority was shared by other forces. We have cooperation experience not only with the PAP but also other political forces. Hence, I can’t say everything is in the past and now cooperation is impossible.