Hovik Abrahamyan submits a notice to leave RPA and meets with Gagik  Tsarukyan  

ArmInfo.The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) does not yet confirm the information that ex-prime minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan has submitted a notice to leave the RPA. 

Notwithstanding this, ArmInfo's sources in the RPA report that  Abrahamyan has recently taken a decision to leave the RPA following  his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow.   ArmInfo previously reported about that meeting, citing its own  sources. Abrahamyan confirmed that information, however, he noted  that the meeting did not cover political issues.      

Nevertheless, ArmInfo's sources in the RPA claim that it was Medvedev  that advised Abrahamyan to leave the party after the ex-prime  minister complained that his position in the RPA has seriously  weakened.  Medvedev advised Abrahamyan to run in the upcoming  parliamentary elections as a member of the Gagik Tsarukyan bloc.  

On returning to Armenia, Abrahamyan met with some prominent RPA  representatives and tried to persuade them to leave the RPA and join  the Gagik Tsarukyan bloc. The details of the talks are not clear,  however, Abrahamyan himself has submitted a notice to leave the party  and then met with Tsarukyan to discuss his inclusion in the Gagik  Tsarukyan bloc. The latter rejected Abrahamyan's request, saying that  the electorate will not welcome his in-law's inclusion in the bloc.  Tsarukyan reminded Abrahamyan of his speech during the RPA Council's  session in Feb 2015, when the ex-prime minister promised "to knock  some sense" into Tsarukyan's head.      

"How can I explain to people that the man threatening 'to knock some  sense' into my head has been included in my bloc?" Tsarukyan replied.  Thus, the ex-prime minister may even revise his decision to leave the  RPA. At the same time, his son - mayor of Artashat, Tsarukyan's  son-in-law Argam Abrahamyan - will most likely run in the elections  as a member of the Gagik Tsarukyan bloc.