Presidential candidate Paruyr Hairikian

Will the presidential elections be postponed?

YEREVAN—Armenian presidential candidate and leader of the Armenian Self-Determination Movement Paruyr Hayrikian was shot on Tpagrichneri Avenue, shortly before midnight Friday. This assassination attempt could postpone the February 18 presidential elections.

Hayrikian was transported to the St. Gregory the Illuminator Hospital, where officials told Hetq.am that that at 11:55 p.m. Hayrikian was admitted with a gun shot wounds to his right clavicle and after undergoing surgery was recuperating in the intensive care unit.

Emergency room reports indicated that his life is not in danger.

“He is recovering,” said a hospital spokesperson.

Yerkir.am reported that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Health Minister Terenik Toumanyan, presidential candidates Raffi Hovannisian and Hrant Bagratian, as well as members of parliament visited the hospital.

Relevant agencies were on the scene investigating the incident.

Could the presidential elections be postponed?
The Hayrikian incident could force the presidential elections to be postponed. According to Article 98 of the Armenian Presidential Election Code, if a candidate is faced with insurmountable obstacles, the elections must be postponed by two weeks, reported Yerkir.am.

Chairman of the Armenian Parliament and President Serzh Sarkisian’s re-election campaign manager Hovik Abrahamian, who was in the hospital with other high-ranking officials, did not rule out the postponement of the elections depending on the developments of the case.