Raffi Hovannisian who claims that he has won the Presidential Elections held in Armenia on 18 February, on Sunday 10 March started a hunger strike in the main square of the Armenian Capital Yerevan.

Hovannisian has called for the incumbent President, Serzh Sargsyan, who intends to be sworn in for a second term  as president on April 9^th to step down. “As long as Mr. Sargsyan has not stepped down, I will stay at Liberty Square and will not eat food,” he noted.

Meanwhile the next rally of Hovannisian’s supporters will be held on March 15 at 5pm. “On that day we will discuss the future courses of action, the Constitutional Court’s ruling [on whether or not the presidential should be declared null and void], and together we will start the matter of [taking] actions, [making] decisions, and consolidate the triumph,”  stated the Presidential contender.

Asked about the reaction of international observers Hovannisian  said “ I do not have any expectations from anyone, but you may read the last interim report of the observers which gives an opportunity to understand what the future and final report will be. They do not need to speak with me, they have already registered the widely spread frauds, especially in places where more than 70% voter turnout was registered. So, the international observers have registered the truth, which I welcome.”

In the meantime the web portal  Panorama.am.   reported that  it was told by the Press Secretary of the Armenian President that “the Head of President’s Administration phoned Mr Hovannisian yesterday [Sunday] to officially invite him to a meeting. We regret to say that Raffi Hovannisian declined the invitation to meet and thoroughly and comprehensively discuss all issues. We only have to hope that Mr Hovannisian assessed the situation correctly, and that he soberly realizes the dangers of de facto declining an invitation for dialogue.”

source: CEW with news.am and tert.am

picture: Raffi Hovannisian on hunger strike in Yerevan on 11 March (picture courtesy of news.am)