STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN IS WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN TELEVISED DEBATE BUT NOT IN JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE
Support A1+!Presidential candidate Stepan Demirchyan is ready to participate in televised debate with his rival Robert Kocharyan, Demirchyan’s press secretary Ruzan Khachatryan said at the news conference held Monday. However, she noted that so called debate offered by state-run Public Television is far from the debate between the two candidates that is very common in civilised countries. “It is joint news conference what is offered to Demirchyan. And he find it senseless to participate in it”, she said.
The Demirchyan’s spokeswoman says Demirchyan’s campaigning team received formal invitation on Monday. Before that, upon learning about “debates” from TV advertisement, she tried to get familiar with conditions from Alexam Harutyunyan, the chair of the Public TV and Radio Company Board, and Armen Arzumanyan, the executive director of Public Television.
She was told eventually that the candidates should answer the questions 6 TV companies’ correspondents put to them.
Ruzan Khachatryan said Demirchyan didn’t reject an idea of televised debate but on condition that it would be a dialogue between the two candidates hosted by one journalist. News media representatives can be present at the dialogue.
The above-described Demirchyan’s proposal was firmly rejected, Khachatryan said. In her opinion, such a stance of current president’s campaigners arouses suspicion, that Kocharyan himself avoids any face-to-face debate with his opponent.
