Gagik Tsarukyan steps down as head of Prosperous Armenia party
05.03.2015,
16:20
The leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan has decided to resign as head of the party, it has emerged today.
YEREVAN, March 5. / ARKA /. The leader of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan has decided to resign as head of the party, it has emerged today.
"I'm abandoning active politics. I am no longer the chairman of the party. However, I will continue to serve my country and my people. This will be done in other areas. I will continue to build churches, schools, gyms, help people of culture and science. I will be doing so as an Armenian, as a citizen of Armenia,» Tsarukyan said on Thursday at an emergency convention of the party.
Tsarukyan nominated secretary of the party's parliamentary faction Ms. Naira Zohrabyan as a candidate for the post of chairperson of the party because of her popularity and loyalty to the team.
The party had the second largest parliamentary faction comprising 36 members before President Serzh Sargsyan lashed out at its leader on January 12.
Sargsyan signed a decree expelling Gagik Tsarukyan from the National Security Council and also ordered authorities to investigate Tsarukyan, one of Armenia's richest men, for alleged tax-dodging and failure to attend parliament sessions.
Tsarukyan, in turn, accused Sargsyan of trying to punish him over his refusal to back a constitutional reform that would allow Sargsyan to remain Armenia's leader beyond 2018 when his current presidential term ends. -0-
