MP from Armenia’s Tsarukyan bloc says “won’t take to streets in 2018"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawmaker from the opposition Tsarukyan bloc on Thursday, July 13 said he doesn’t mind if Serzh Sargsyan continues ruling Armenia after his term as president ends in 2018.

Commenting on other opposition parties’ suggestion of starting a “velvet regime change,” Vardan Bostanjyan said he’s not going to take to the streets if Sargsyan continues running the country, RFE/RL Armenian Service reports.

Founding leader of the opposition Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian announced earlier that the party is bracing for extraordinary “velvet regime change" due to a lack of nationwide elections in the coming five years. Later, Yelk bloc said it doesn’t rule out discussing the matter with Hovannisian.

According to Bostanjyan, Tsarukyan bloc as a whole has no such plans either.

Unlike other opposition political figures, Bostanjyan does see positive changes in the past 10 years that Sargsyan has been at the helm of the country, citing, in particular, “peace, absence of tensions altogether.”

Also Thursday, leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun Armen Rustamyan said hesees no grounds for a “velvet regime change” in the country.