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The deputy head of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) party, Levon Zurabyan, on Thursday urged his teammates not to “fall into despair” after failing to enter the National Assembly as a result of Sunday’s snap elections.

According to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the Armenian National Congress, led by first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, won 1.54% of the vote in the elections, failing to clear the 5% vote threshold.

In a public post on Facebook on Thursday, Zurabyan expressed deep gratitude to all ANC members for their hard work during the election campaign.

“In just 30 days, we managed to present to our society the truth about the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, our development plans for Armenia and the need for pursuing realistic policies again,” he said.

Zurabyan alleged misuse of administrative resources, pressure on people and vote buying in Sunday’s elections.

“Do not fall into despair! Nations can never achieve progress without programs based on rational political thought and sober judgement. It is thanks to these principles and ideas that we have been able to bring together a large group of thinkers and, what is the most encouraging, young men excelling in the education, science, arts and business. All we need to do is to maintain and expand the great new team created during the election campaign and our supporters for further political battles.

“The three-year rule of the current authorities has proved that they have completely failed in public administration and have succeeded only in demagoguery and the manipulation of public opinion. I have no doubt that very soon we will have to mobilize all our efforts to deal with their failures and face new challenges.

“Thank you to all the Congress candidates, supporters, financial contributors, campaigners and campaign office employees. Rationality and justice will prevail all the same,” Zurabyan said.