Armenian presidential contenders pay special attention to agriculture, expert says

YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. Three of the Armenian candidates for president, Serzh Sargsyan, Raffi Hovannisyan and Hrant Bagratyan, have an economic component in their election platforms, head of Alternative analytical centre, PhD in economy, professor Tatul Manaseryan told a press conference Tuesday.

Special attention is paid to rural problems in particular.

“The candidates realize that development of agriculture is an important step to ensure the food supply security and economic development in the country”, Manaseryan said.

The candidates say it is important to solve employment problems in rural areas, according to Manaseryan.

The expert stressed that all three contenders touch also upon social issues and promise to raise pensions and wages, but propose different mechanisms for it.

“Opposition candidates pay great attention to reduction of black economy”, Manaseryan said.

According to the expert, the main difference between the election platforms is how the platforms are formed.

“For example, Serzh Sargsyan’s platform points only to main objectives and targets, whereas Hrant Bagratyan describes his proposals in more detail and in numbers; Raffi Hovanisian’s platform is less spatial, but contains indicators the candidate promises to achieve if elected”, Manaseryan said.

The expert sees certain differences also in approaches, for instance, Raffi Hovanissian promises to create 180,000 new jobs, whereas Bagratyan intends to promote self-employment among the population.

In general, according to the expert, the most important is not the extent of detail in the platform, but candidate’s capability of keeping his promises. Here, special attention should be paid to the past and the political biography of each contender, Manaseryan said.

Armenian presidential elections are scheduled for February 18. Seven nominees are running for president: incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan, former prime minister and leader of Freedom party Hrant Bagratyan, former foreign minister and head of Heritage party Raffi Hovhannisyan, famous Soviet dissident and leader of National Self-Determination party Paruyr Hayrikyan, ex foreign minister of Karabakh Arman Melikyan, political scientist and head of Radio Hay Andrias Ghukasyan and philologist Vardan Sedrakyan.  -0-