YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on January 19 introduced Armen Sargsyan who is the candidate of the Republican Party of Armenia for the position of the country’s President. Taking into account the fact that the President of the country will be elected not by the people, but the parliament, Armen Sargsyan almost has no chances to lose the election.

Kommersant.ru touched upon this topic, stating that Armen Sargsyan has an image of pro-Western political figure with wide connections abroad.

“Armen Sargsyan is quite a high-level political figure in Armenia. He has long been considered in the RPA’s staff reserve for high-ranking posts. His name was also circulated during the discussion of the candidate for future prime minister in 2016 together with the name of current prime minister Karen Karapetyan”, Hrant Mikayelyan – researcher at the Caucasus Institute, political scientist, told the newspaper, adding that in the parliamentary system of governance the president’s task is first of all to deal with diplomatic issues.

It’s possible that the current President, making this decision, took into consideration the fact that Armen Sargsyan will do this task well, that he is quite reliable for the leadership. He has good ties in the UK, and it’s possible he is considered by the Armenian leadership as an advantage in the conditions when the PM has ties with Russia”, Hrant Mikayelyan said.

Political scientist Vigen Hakobyan told kommersant.ru that in addition to the functions set by the Constitution, the future President should also help in foreign political and economic matters, in particular, on attracting investments via his personal ties.

“The selection of Armen Sargsyan is conditioned by the fact that he is among not so many Armenian figures who have capacities to influence this or that decision abroad, taking into account his ties, presence in formal and informal international structures”, the political scientist said.

The expert called Armen Sargsyan as a pro-Western political figure, but added that he also has ties with Russia, especially, thanks to business.