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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 5 2012
Armenia heads to polls amid claims of foul play
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a parliamentary
election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy between the
governing party and its current coalition partner, led by an
ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion.
Opinion polls suggest that President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican
Party, which currently controls the majority of seats in Parliament,
is ahead of its ally in the outgoing coalition ` the Prosperous
Armenia Party, led by millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik
Tsarukian. Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest
for the 131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3
million people. The general perception among the public, however,
tells a different story. `If elections were fair and democratic, and
the people were to choose freely, then Sarkisian's party surely would
not be their [preference.] They [the Republican Party] will do their
utmost to ensure a majority in Parliament,' told Edgar Vartanian, a
political scientist from the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies.
Sarkisian's government's efforts to kick-start diplomatic relations
with Turkey in 2008, which subsequently failed to reach fruition, have
not made it to the election agenda either, as the issue could
negatively impact the campaign, Vartanian added. Alexander
Iskandarian, the director of the Caucasus Institute, countered these
claims however, saying Sarkisian's government would fail to attain a
parliamentary majority, and a coalition government will emerge.
May/05/2012
May 5 2012
Armenia heads to polls amid claims of foul play
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a parliamentary
election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy between the
governing party and its current coalition partner, led by an
ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion.
Opinion polls suggest that President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican
Party, which currently controls the majority of seats in Parliament,
is ahead of its ally in the outgoing coalition ` the Prosperous
Armenia Party, led by millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik
Tsarukian. Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest
for the 131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3
million people. The general perception among the public, however,
tells a different story. `If elections were fair and democratic, and
the people were to choose freely, then Sarkisian's party surely would
not be their [preference.] They [the Republican Party] will do their
utmost to ensure a majority in Parliament,' told Edgar Vartanian, a
political scientist from the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies.
Sarkisian's government's efforts to kick-start diplomatic relations
with Turkey in 2008, which subsequently failed to reach fruition, have
not made it to the election agenda either, as the issue could
negatively impact the campaign, Vartanian added. Alexander
Iskandarian, the director of the Caucasus Institute, countered these
claims however, saying Sarkisian's government would fail to attain a
parliamentary majority, and a coalition government will emerge.
May/05/2012