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Vardanyan Says ARF-D Will Do Better This Time, Accuses Regime Of
Abusing State Levers
http://www.arfd.info/2013/04/17/vardanyan-says-arf-d-will-do-better-this-time-accuses-regime-of-abusing-state-levers/
April 17, 2013
The overwhelming majority of the voters is that segment of the
population which is more independent and less succumbing to pressure,
told ARF-D Supreme Council of Armenia Vice Chairman, Aghvan Vardanyan
to news.am in reply to a remark about the party's voters being mostly
from outside the capital. In Vardanyan's opinion vote rigging and
administrative levers are less efficient in the case of Yerevan's
constituency. `I'm certain that ARF-D's policy and activities will
have a larger response among the people of Yerevan. Party members are
going door-to-door talking to the citizens who after comparing the
political parties to each other state that they will vote for ARF-D'
Vardanyan pointed out and said that this is a proof that the party's
share of votes will be larger in Yerevan this time.
News.am reminds that in the last Yerevan municipal election which took
place four years ago, ARF-D didn't manage to pass the 6% threshold
necessary for having representatives in the city's governing body.
***
Dashnaks Cry Foul Over Yerevan Polls
(azatutyun.am, April 17) - A leader of the opposition Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on Tuesday accused the
ruling Republican Party (HHK) of abusing its government levers to
prevail in next month's municipal elections in Yerevan.
`The ruling party has learned bitter lessons from the [last]
presidential elections, and now all state and administrative resources
are being used to make these elections apolitical and forcibly ensure
votes [for the HHK,]' charged Aghvan Vartanian.
Vartanian claimed that high-ranking officials at various state
institutions are forcing their subordinates to pledge to vote for the
HHK in the polls scheduled for May 5. `Also, time and again our
teachers are forced to promote [the HHK] among their students' parents
to ensure votes,' he told a news conference.
The HHK, which is headed by President Serzh Sarkisian, has faced such
allegations from the opposition as well as media ahead of just about
every major election held in Armenia in the past decade. It has always
denied them.
Western observers reported `misuse of administrative resources' and
`pressure on voters' by the Sarkisian campaign during the February 18
presidential election. They said government officials are using states
resources to campaign for Sarkisian's reelection and forcing public
sector employees to attend his campaign rallies. Still, the observers'
assessment of the Armenian authorities' handling of the ballot was
otherwise largely positive.
Vartanian, who is second on Dashnaktsutyun's list of candidates for
Yerevan's municipal council, predicted that there will be few
irregularities inside polling stations on May 5 not least because
nearly half of the members of precinct election commissions will be
appointed by opposition groups. `They will try to do [illicit] things
outside polling stations,' he said, referring to the HHK.
Dashnaktsutyun, which holds five seats in the Armenian parliament, is
not represented in Yerevan's outgoing Council of Elders. The party won
less than 5 percent of the vote in the last municipal elections held
in May 2009. Those polls took place one month after it withdrew from
Armenia's governing coalition.
Abusing State Levers
http://www.arfd.info/2013/04/17/vardanyan-says-arf-d-will-do-better-this-time-accuses-regime-of-abusing-state-levers/
April 17, 2013
The overwhelming majority of the voters is that segment of the
population which is more independent and less succumbing to pressure,
told ARF-D Supreme Council of Armenia Vice Chairman, Aghvan Vardanyan
to news.am in reply to a remark about the party's voters being mostly
from outside the capital. In Vardanyan's opinion vote rigging and
administrative levers are less efficient in the case of Yerevan's
constituency. `I'm certain that ARF-D's policy and activities will
have a larger response among the people of Yerevan. Party members are
going door-to-door talking to the citizens who after comparing the
political parties to each other state that they will vote for ARF-D'
Vardanyan pointed out and said that this is a proof that the party's
share of votes will be larger in Yerevan this time.
News.am reminds that in the last Yerevan municipal election which took
place four years ago, ARF-D didn't manage to pass the 6% threshold
necessary for having representatives in the city's governing body.
***
Dashnaks Cry Foul Over Yerevan Polls
(azatutyun.am, April 17) - A leader of the opposition Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on Tuesday accused the
ruling Republican Party (HHK) of abusing its government levers to
prevail in next month's municipal elections in Yerevan.
`The ruling party has learned bitter lessons from the [last]
presidential elections, and now all state and administrative resources
are being used to make these elections apolitical and forcibly ensure
votes [for the HHK,]' charged Aghvan Vartanian.
Vartanian claimed that high-ranking officials at various state
institutions are forcing their subordinates to pledge to vote for the
HHK in the polls scheduled for May 5. `Also, time and again our
teachers are forced to promote [the HHK] among their students' parents
to ensure votes,' he told a news conference.
The HHK, which is headed by President Serzh Sarkisian, has faced such
allegations from the opposition as well as media ahead of just about
every major election held in Armenia in the past decade. It has always
denied them.
Western observers reported `misuse of administrative resources' and
`pressure on voters' by the Sarkisian campaign during the February 18
presidential election. They said government officials are using states
resources to campaign for Sarkisian's reelection and forcing public
sector employees to attend his campaign rallies. Still, the observers'
assessment of the Armenian authorities' handling of the ballot was
otherwise largely positive.
Vartanian, who is second on Dashnaktsutyun's list of candidates for
Yerevan's municipal council, predicted that there will be few
irregularities inside polling stations on May 5 not least because
nearly half of the members of precinct election commissions will be
appointed by opposition groups. `They will try to do [illicit] things
outside polling stations,' he said, referring to the HHK.
Dashnaktsutyun, which holds five seats in the Armenian parliament, is
not represented in Yerevan's outgoing Council of Elders. The party won
less than 5 percent of the vote in the last municipal elections held
in May 2009. Those polls took place one month after it withdrew from
Armenia's governing coalition.