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Agence France Presse
September 23, 2011 Friday 4:41 PM GMT
Armenia protest maintains pressure on government
YEREVAN, Sept 23 2011
Up to 6,000 opposition protesters rallied in the Armenian capital on
Friday as part of their continuing campaign to force the government to
hold immediate elections.
"We must strengthen the pressure on the authorities so they fulfil our
demands to hold presidential and parliamentary polls before the end of
the year and change the electoral law," former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, the leader of the Armenian National Congress opposition
bloc, told the rally.
Angry about poverty and alleged institutional corruption, some
protesters carried placards with the slogan "Snap elections" while
others held pictures of Armenian soldiers killed on non-combat duty,
claiming mistreatment of servicemen.
Another speaker at the rally threatened the authorities with political unrest.
"We call on the people to get ready for civil disobedience," the
opposition bloc's coordinator Levon Zurabian said.
The bloc is seeking to win fresh concessions from the coalition
government led by President Serzh Sarkisian after gains made this year
amid a series of demonstrations.
Sarkisian's administration has already fulfilled demands to allow
rallies in a previously forbidden central square and released
activists jailed for involvement in clashes after disputed
presidential elections in 2008 that left 10 people dead.
But the authorities have ruled out any possibility of early polls and
talks between the governing coalition and Ter-Petrosian's bloc aimed
at easing political tensions have broken down.
Some analysts believe that the opposition bloc is continuing its
protests as an electioneering tactic to inspire more support ahead of
the next parliamentary polls due in 2012.
"The opposition wants to get more votes by creating an even more tense
situation," Sergei Minasian of the Caucasus Media Institute told AFP.
Armenia has gone through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
mkh-emc/zak/jmm
September 23, 2011 Friday 4:41 PM GMT
Armenia protest maintains pressure on government
YEREVAN, Sept 23 2011
Up to 6,000 opposition protesters rallied in the Armenian capital on
Friday as part of their continuing campaign to force the government to
hold immediate elections.
"We must strengthen the pressure on the authorities so they fulfil our
demands to hold presidential and parliamentary polls before the end of
the year and change the electoral law," former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, the leader of the Armenian National Congress opposition
bloc, told the rally.
Angry about poverty and alleged institutional corruption, some
protesters carried placards with the slogan "Snap elections" while
others held pictures of Armenian soldiers killed on non-combat duty,
claiming mistreatment of servicemen.
Another speaker at the rally threatened the authorities with political unrest.
"We call on the people to get ready for civil disobedience," the
opposition bloc's coordinator Levon Zurabian said.
The bloc is seeking to win fresh concessions from the coalition
government led by President Serzh Sarkisian after gains made this year
amid a series of demonstrations.
Sarkisian's administration has already fulfilled demands to allow
rallies in a previously forbidden central square and released
activists jailed for involvement in clashes after disputed
presidential elections in 2008 that left 10 people dead.
But the authorities have ruled out any possibility of early polls and
talks between the governing coalition and Ter-Petrosian's bloc aimed
at easing political tensions have broken down.
Some analysts believe that the opposition bloc is continuing its
protests as an electioneering tactic to inspire more support ahead of
the next parliamentary polls due in 2012.
"The opposition wants to get more votes by creating an even more tense
situation," Sergei Minasian of the Caucasus Media Institute told AFP.
Armenia has gone through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
mkh-emc/zak/jmm