ArmRosgazprom did not plan to connect Jrashat to network: spokesperson says

YEREVAN, March 4. / ARKA /. Shushan Sardarian, a spokesperson for ArmRosGazprom (ARG), Armenia's national gas distribution company, said today the company did not plan to connect the village of Jrashat in Ararat province to the network.

According to Armenian media reports, the company took out gas pipes which had been brought to the village prior to the presidential election - ostensibly to connect it to the network. When the villagers tried to prevent the taking out of pipes,  they were told that the decision to connect the village to the network was cancelled after it emerged that an opposition presidential candidate Raffi Hovanissian, head of Heritage party,  received more votes in the village than the incumbent president Serzh  Sargsyan.

Shushan Sardarian said there is a variety of connecting rural communities to gas network – with the help of private investors, local authorities or special social programs. She said the company has nothing to do with taking out the pipes.

ArmRosGazprom is the sole supplier of Russian natural gas to Armenia. It was founded in 1997. Some 80 percent of it is owned by Russian Gazprom, the rest –by Armenia’s government.

According to Armenia’s Central Election Commission, the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan had received 861,373 votes or 58.64% of the vote and was reelected for the second five-year term.

Raffi Hovannisian, head of the opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, came in second with 36.74% of the vote or 539,693 votes. He did not recognize the results of the vote and started g a "revolution of greetings" and protest demonstrations across the country.-0-