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ON THE MOVE: OPPOSITION LEADER HOLDING INDOOR MEETINGS IN PROVINCES FOR 'NEW ARMENIA'
POLITICS | 23.04.13 | 10:40
Photolure
By GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN ArmeniaNow reporter
Opposition Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian on Monday embarked
on what is his fourth tour of the regions this year in a bid to
promote his views and engage in debate on an emerging nonpartisan
civic movement that he announced in Yerevan late last week.
Hovannisian, who staged protests in Yerevan and provinces for several
weeks in the wake of the February 18 presidential election in which he
claimed victory despite the official result giving victory to President
Serzh Sargsyan, told supporters on Friday that the new movement, New
Armenia, would be a civic alliance, but representatives of different
political parties could also join it on condition that they would
stand above party politics.
Hovannisian also announced that on April 22-27 (except April 24,
which is the Genocide Remembrance Day) he would travel across Armenia
for indoor meetings with people in provincial towns.
During a meeting with people in Vanadzor on Monday Hovannisian said:
"Together, we are entering a new phase, which implies participation
of every citizen, every political party or movement, every journalist
and intellectual."
And addressing an audience in the second largest Armenian city of
Gyumri, the opposition leader gave assurances that even though it
would not be soon, but still they would not wait for too long before
"the people's victory" could be achieved. He stressed that for that
purpose they would continue their struggle "in the first line".
Edgar Vardanyan, an expert with the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies, believes Hovannisian's post-election movement
is going through modification as institutionalization of the most
active segment of the opposition is taking place.
"The post-election protests are over, but people want to go on
fighting for their rights, which implies a new situation, new forms
of organization, and Raffi Hovannisian has initiated a new format of
struggle," Vardanyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to the analyst, success of the opposition Heritage party-led
bloc, Hello Yerevan, in the upcoming municipal elections in Yerevan
would only contribute to the overall strengthening of the movement,
on the other hand, the process around the emerging New Armenia movement
could contribute to the success of Hello Yerevan.
"By not joining the list of candidates of the Hello Yerevan bloc
Hovannisian showed that his Barevolution [a word play on the Armenian
greeting 'Barev' and the English word 'revolution'] would continue
with a national agenda and would not focus on Yerevan alone.
Logically, if Hovannisian led the Hello Yerevan bloc it would perhaps
have more chances of winning, but Hovannisian, in fact, showed that
he did not want his movement to cease," said Vardanyan.
Meanwhile, Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Yerevan-based
Caucasus Institute, thinks that the post-election situation in
Armenia is long over and Hovannisian is acting merely by force of an
"Armenian political tradition". As for the May 5 municipal elections in
Yerevan, according to Iskandaryan, although Hello Yerevan as well as
the opposition Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia
Party do have chances of receiving a certain amount of votes, none
of them is likely to win the elections.
From: Baghdasarian
POLITICS | 23.04.13 | 10:40
Photolure
By GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN ArmeniaNow reporter
Opposition Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian on Monday embarked
on what is his fourth tour of the regions this year in a bid to
promote his views and engage in debate on an emerging nonpartisan
civic movement that he announced in Yerevan late last week.
Hovannisian, who staged protests in Yerevan and provinces for several
weeks in the wake of the February 18 presidential election in which he
claimed victory despite the official result giving victory to President
Serzh Sargsyan, told supporters on Friday that the new movement, New
Armenia, would be a civic alliance, but representatives of different
political parties could also join it on condition that they would
stand above party politics.
Hovannisian also announced that on April 22-27 (except April 24,
which is the Genocide Remembrance Day) he would travel across Armenia
for indoor meetings with people in provincial towns.
During a meeting with people in Vanadzor on Monday Hovannisian said:
"Together, we are entering a new phase, which implies participation
of every citizen, every political party or movement, every journalist
and intellectual."
And addressing an audience in the second largest Armenian city of
Gyumri, the opposition leader gave assurances that even though it
would not be soon, but still they would not wait for too long before
"the people's victory" could be achieved. He stressed that for that
purpose they would continue their struggle "in the first line".
Edgar Vardanyan, an expert with the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies, believes Hovannisian's post-election movement
is going through modification as institutionalization of the most
active segment of the opposition is taking place.
"The post-election protests are over, but people want to go on
fighting for their rights, which implies a new situation, new forms
of organization, and Raffi Hovannisian has initiated a new format of
struggle," Vardanyan told ArmeniaNow.
According to the analyst, success of the opposition Heritage party-led
bloc, Hello Yerevan, in the upcoming municipal elections in Yerevan
would only contribute to the overall strengthening of the movement,
on the other hand, the process around the emerging New Armenia movement
could contribute to the success of Hello Yerevan.
"By not joining the list of candidates of the Hello Yerevan bloc
Hovannisian showed that his Barevolution [a word play on the Armenian
greeting 'Barev' and the English word 'revolution'] would continue
with a national agenda and would not focus on Yerevan alone.
Logically, if Hovannisian led the Hello Yerevan bloc it would perhaps
have more chances of winning, but Hovannisian, in fact, showed that
he did not want his movement to cease," said Vardanyan.
Meanwhile, Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Yerevan-based
Caucasus Institute, thinks that the post-election situation in
Armenia is long over and Hovannisian is acting merely by force of an
"Armenian political tradition". As for the May 5 municipal elections in
Yerevan, according to Iskandaryan, although Hello Yerevan as well as
the opposition Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia
Party do have chances of receiving a certain amount of votes, none
of them is likely to win the elections.
From: Baghdasarian