YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS, The second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan cast his vote in the early election of parliament. Kocharyan is the candidate for prime minister of the Hayastan Alliance. He came to the 7/3 polling station with his wife, former First Lady Bella Kocharyan.

“First of all I voted for dignified peace, then economic ascent, this is the choice,” Kocharyan told reporters after casting his ballot.

Asked by a reporter how he feels, Kocharyan said he’s in a ‘fighting spirit’.

He also commented on a smear campaign targeting his alliance, when flyers containing hate-speech were scattered across downtown Yerevan. “I think that the appearance of the flyers with my photo is a gross violation of the law, and there are already images online because there are cameras in the city. If police fail to apprehend the criminals in a few hours, we will announce that this is all being done by the government,” Kocharyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan