YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s ruling coalition will officially nominate Armen Sarkissian’s candidacy as the 4th President of Armenia, secretary of the ARF parliamentary faction Aghvan Vardanyan told reporters after Sarkissian’s meeting with the coalition partners Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the ARF in the parliament.

“The mechanism is such that the presidential candidate is nominated by lawmakers of the two factions of the coalition, and this decision was made at the meeting”, Vardanyan said.

He said that the necessary signatures for the nomination of Armen Sarkissian are already being collected. “If I’m not mistaken, more than 60 signatures have already been collected. For nominating a presidential candidate, the signatures of one fourth of the total number of lawmakers is required, meaning twice more has been collected”, he said.

Vardanyan said that Sarkissian delivered a speech at the meeting, which is identical to the desires, life and ideas of every citizen of Armenia.

Earlier in January Armen Sarkissian, Armenia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was offered by incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, who also serves as President of the country’s ruling Republican Party, to be the party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Sarkissian initially requested a brief period of time for pondering the offer, and in the meanwhile held various meetings with political parties, civil society representatives, Diaspora structures and others, and subsequently agreed to be nominated.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan