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The year 2012 was marked by protracted conflicts, and the parliamentary elections did not help to solve the conflicts between the political forces, Heritage party’s general secretary Stepan Safaryan told reporters, summing up the passing year. 

“The ruling party and Serzh Sargsyan used every method to weaken the opposition,” said Safaryan, adding that the strategic failure of the opposition led to a situation when neither Prosperous Armenia Party nor Armenian National Congress was able to nominate a presidential candidate.

“The confrontation between Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia Party ended quickly and led to a complicated situation in ANC. The main reasons of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s refusal to run for president are the failure of the strategy of political scientific analysis and the contradictions within ANC,” Stepan Safaryan noted.

It is not accidental that Liberty leader Hrant Bagratyan runs for president, Heritage member said, because his decision aims to retain ANC’s electorate. 

“I do not share the opinion that the result of the game is predetermined,” Safaryan said. “In this situation, Heritage candidate Raffi Hovannisian becomes the most weighty one among the current candidates as well as the first rival of the authorities.”