YEREVAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Armenian presidential candidate Paruir Hayrikyan has dropped his plan to seek a postponement of the election after being seriously wounded by a gunman.
Hayrikyan, one of eight candidates in the Feb. 18 presidential vote, was shot and seriously wounded last Thursday by an unknown gunman. The 63-year-old leader of the National Selfdetermination Union, is now in stable condition after surgery.
The candidate's attorney told a media conference Tuesday it had become obvious the gunman wanted to murder Hayrikian and disrupt the election and they had therefore decided they would not allow him to achieve his goal.
Saying his intention was not to act as the criminal wanted, Hayrikian said in hospital: "I am against the postponement of the elections, but, considering that this is a criminal case, the results of the investigation are very important. And, of course, we exclude the possibility of postponing the elections."
In an interview on radio "Liberty" last Friday, Hayrikyan said he hoped the elections would be postponed for 15 days to allow him to recover.
"There are two options for postponing of the elections, for 15 and for 40 days. I have to use the former version," he said.
Also at Tuesday's media conference, Armenian Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasian said there was no basis for a postponement at the moment.
Hayrikyan himself later joined the press conference but refused to answer any questions.
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