President Announces His Resignation

Yerevan, February 3 (Noyan Tapan). At 9:50 p.m. on February 3 the state television of Armenia broadcast the speech by President Levon Ter-Petrossian.

            Below is the full text of the statement:
            "The well-known bodies of the power demanded my resignation. Taking into account the fact that the fulfillment of the presidentís constitutional duties under the current situation is fraught with a real danger of destabilization in the country, I accept that demand and announce my resignation.
            I refrain from any comments or assessment, in order not to aggravate the situation. I just think it necessary to note that the speculations over the Karabakh problem was just a cause in the crisis of power. The problem is much deeper and is connected with the fundamental principle of the statehood and the alternative between peace and war.
            The time will show who did what for Karabakh and who is indeed selling it. Nothing extraordinary happened. Simply ìthe party of peace and decent accordî has lost. Let us not burst into complexes. The party of peace has suffered defeats in more developed countries, like Israel. But both in Israel and Armenia this everything is transient. Just a temporary defeat. Anyway, sooner or later peace will make a path for it. I call on you to display restraint, keep the order in the country and run legal, civilized elections of the new president. That will be a manifestation of the maturity of our state we have formed for the last eight years and a deposit of maintaining the image abroad.
            I wish the new president success for the good and welfare of the Armenian people. I am very grateful to you for your trust and support.
            I also thank all my supporters who were near by me all the time and remain with me now. If I take the decision to resign, believe me, that means I thought that the alternative would be more dangerous for our state. If I did something good, I do not expect any gratitude. I ask your indulgence for all my errors and the things I did not do.

With best regards."

As of March 5 twelve candidates running in the March 16 Presidential Race

            The March 16 election is heating up as tweleve candidates have received the 25,000 signatures
required to be a presidential candidate.  The following is a list of the candidates:

ï Robert Kocharian - acting President and Prime Minister. Non-partisan
ï Vazgen Manoukian - Member of parliament and Chairman of National Democratic Union.
ï Sergey Badalian - Member of parliament and leader of the Communist Party of Armenia.
ï Paruyr Hairikian - Member of parliament and Chairman of Democratic Party of Armenia.
ï Aram Sargssian - Chairman of Democratic Party of Armenia.
ï David Shahnazarian - Member of parliament.
ï Karen Demirchian - Head of "Armelectromash" company
ï Vigen Khachatrian - Member of parliament and Chairman of Liberal-Democratic Party.
ï Ashot Bleyan - True path or ìNew Routeî party
ï Hrant Khachatrian - Chariman of Constitutional Right Union.
ï Artashes Geghamian - Chairman of National Unity Party.
ï Yuri Mkrtichian -  Non-partisan