Armenia’s Hanrapetutyun (Republic Party), led by Aram Sargsyan, kicked off its parliamentary election campaign today in Yerevan’s Republic Square.

Party officials told the gathered crowd that, if they come to power, they would “use all the resources of the country to eliminate the threat to the statehood.”

The party called for greater government funding of the sciences and the utilization of all the country’s natural resources to boost the economy.

Proposing favorable terms for foreign investors, party officials stressed the need to attract investment from across the globe.

This approach, they argued, would create jobs, and thus decrease emigration. A population increase would then facilitate replenishing the ranks of the armed forces.

"Our proposed program means that by using our natural resources, we can equip our army so much that in case of any enemy attack, we can injure 20-40,000 people. In that case, the enemy will think before attacking. This is completely realistic, and to achieve it we must use all our natural resources,” Sargsyan told his supporters.

Aram Sargsyan, younger brother of Vazgen Sargsyan, served as Armenian Prime Minister from November 1999 to May 2000. He founded the Republic Party in 2001.

The party formed the We Alliance with the Free Democrats Party to participate in the 2018 parliamentary election. The alliance received 2% of the popular vote and failed to gain any seats in the National Assembly. in the Armenian parliament.