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OPPOSITION LEADER SETS CONDITIONS FOR PRE-ELECTION COOPERATION
Sargis Harutyunyan, Irina Hovhannisyan
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24544000.html
10.04.2012
Armenia - Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian speaks at the Civilitas
Foundation in Yerevan, 10 Apr 2012.
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian set conditions on Tuesday for
his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party's participation in a multi-party
structure meant to combat possible fraud in next month's parliamentary
elections.
Zharangutyun, Armenia's two other leading opposition forces as
well as the governing Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) announced the
establishment of the Inter-Party Center for Public Oversight of the
Elections in a joint statement signed by their senior members on April
4. They have yet to work out practical modalities of the unprecedented
joint effort.
Hovannisian said Zharangutyun believes that the task force can operate
successfully only if the four election contenders clarify what they
mean by free and fair elections. He also demanded the adoption of
another joint declaration that would be signed by their top leaders.
"Our proposals and conditions should be respected in the next two
days so that we can have a really functioning and effective joint
center," he told a public discussion at the Civilitas Foundation,
a Yerevan-based think-tank. "We are not going to waste time."
Representatives of the four political forces are expected to meet on
Wednesday to try to flesh out the initiative.
President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
was also offered to join the anti-fraud task force but rejected
the offer. HHK representatives proposed last week alternative
formats for multi-party cooperation on the proper conduct of the
May 6 elections. The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK)
rejected them out of hand, questioning the Sarkisian government's
stated commitment to democratic elections.
HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, meanwhile, urged Armenians not to
sell their votes and bow to intimidation by government loyalists as
he launched his bloc's election campaign in the central Aragatsotn
province. He at the same time dismissed suggestions that massive vote
buying by the HHK would be enough to earn President Serzh Sarkisian's
party victory in the elections. The authorities are thus trying to
demoralize disgruntled voters, he claimed.
Speaking at a campaign rally in the town of Aparan, Ter-Petrosian
also assured supporters that the Armenian authorities would not get
away with fresh "repression" against his opposition movement.
"Today the international environment has changed," Armenia's first
president said. "The world would no longer put up with the kind of
abuses that were committed in Armenia. The events in Arab countries ...
have taught the world a lesson and I'm sure the world will be looking
at our elections with totally different eyes."
"That is a further guarantee that the authorities will not dare
to unleash the kind of repression against the people which they
perpetrated in the past," he added. "So we shouldn't be afraid of
anything."
From: Baghdasarian
Sargis Harutyunyan, Irina Hovhannisyan
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24544000.html
10.04.2012
Armenia - Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian speaks at the Civilitas
Foundation in Yerevan, 10 Apr 2012.
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian set conditions on Tuesday for
his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party's participation in a multi-party
structure meant to combat possible fraud in next month's parliamentary
elections.
Zharangutyun, Armenia's two other leading opposition forces as
well as the governing Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) announced the
establishment of the Inter-Party Center for Public Oversight of the
Elections in a joint statement signed by their senior members on April
4. They have yet to work out practical modalities of the unprecedented
joint effort.
Hovannisian said Zharangutyun believes that the task force can operate
successfully only if the four election contenders clarify what they
mean by free and fair elections. He also demanded the adoption of
another joint declaration that would be signed by their top leaders.
"Our proposals and conditions should be respected in the next two
days so that we can have a really functioning and effective joint
center," he told a public discussion at the Civilitas Foundation,
a Yerevan-based think-tank. "We are not going to waste time."
Representatives of the four political forces are expected to meet on
Wednesday to try to flesh out the initiative.
President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
was also offered to join the anti-fraud task force but rejected
the offer. HHK representatives proposed last week alternative
formats for multi-party cooperation on the proper conduct of the
May 6 elections. The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK)
rejected them out of hand, questioning the Sarkisian government's
stated commitment to democratic elections.
HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, meanwhile, urged Armenians not to
sell their votes and bow to intimidation by government loyalists as
he launched his bloc's election campaign in the central Aragatsotn
province. He at the same time dismissed suggestions that massive vote
buying by the HHK would be enough to earn President Serzh Sarkisian's
party victory in the elections. The authorities are thus trying to
demoralize disgruntled voters, he claimed.
Speaking at a campaign rally in the town of Aparan, Ter-Petrosian
also assured supporters that the Armenian authorities would not get
away with fresh "repression" against his opposition movement.
"Today the international environment has changed," Armenia's first
president said. "The world would no longer put up with the kind of
abuses that were committed in Armenia. The events in Arab countries ...
have taught the world a lesson and I'm sure the world will be looking
at our elections with totally different eyes."
"That is a further guarantee that the authorities will not dare
to unleash the kind of repression against the people which they
perpetrated in the past," he added. "So we shouldn't be afraid of
anything."
From: Baghdasarian