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The newly formed political alliance “Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanyan” (ORO) named by the leaders of the Heritage party, Unity party as well as former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan held on Saturday its first convention at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex ahead of the parliamentary elections on April 2.

“The convention will give a start to new process that will lead Armenia out of the current realities,” Armen Martirosyan, Deputy Chairman at the Heritage Party stated during his opening remarks.

“We launch our election campaign and are confident in our strength and might. We established an alliance which is unique not only in Armenia but around the world, since three experienced state figures consolidated their efforts, knowledge, and will to give an option to our citizens to have a leadership that would guide Armenia out of the existing crisis,” Martirosyan declared.

To remind, ORO is running for the parliamentary elections with a campaign slogan “Heritage, Unity and Victory”. Armen Martirosyan earlier revealed the first ten of the proportional list, headed by Seyran Ohanyan who is also the candidate for the post of Prime Minister in case the political bloc wins the elections and forms the cabinet.

Chairman of the Unity party Vartan Oskanian who served as Armenia’s foreign minister in 1998–2008 comes the third in the list, while Raffi Hovhannisyan, the first foreign minister of Armenia and the founding leader of Heritage party is the 11th.

In his speech during the convention Vartan Oskanian stressed that the change of leadership in Armenia ‘remains an imperative.’

“Our public should be guided through three criteria while deciding which political force to elect out of the nominated forces. The first criterion is the dedication, sincerity, and honesty of the leaders of those parties and blocs. The second is the capability of those leaders to address and solve the facing problems, while the third - the feasibility of their programs and the vision,” Oskanian said, suggesting ORO fully complies to the guiding principles to win the vote of confidence.

The former minister also insisted the Armenian public should appreciate the dedication of the ORO leaders, as “after the earthquake he and Raffi Hovhannisyan left their prosperous life in the United States and returned to Armenia to be part of the state building,” while former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan devoted all his life to the liberation of Artsakh and the protection of the motherland.

Ohanyan in his turn pointed out the difficult geopolitical developments around Armenia, saying the ultimate matter ahead of the country is the security of Armenia and Artsakh -  irrespective of differences in political positions. Ohanyan called on the public to realize the decisive phase in Armenia’s history and the seriousness of the situation “to change the existing system, ensure security and development and avoid the real crises”.