The topic of the discussion that was organized today by the Armenian Centerfor Political and International Studies was Local Election: Training for the National Assembly Election?
Republican Party of Armenia MP Hovhannes Sahakyan was present at the discussion on behalf of the establishment and Pan-Armenian National Movement (PANM) member Sargis Tamazyan and Heritage Party MP Larisa Alaverdyan on behalf of the opposition.
Naturally, the discussion was on the election that will take place in Hrazdan in three days, February 12. Hovhannes Sahakyan did not think that there was anything unusual in the fact that the president of the country by his visit to Hrazdan and the governor of Kotayk and others explicitly endorsed the establishment’s candidate for the mayor of Hrazdan, whereas the Armenian National Congress (ANC) representative was convinced that the endorsement was illegal.
To be more accurate, when Hovhannes Sahakyan explained that Serzh Sargsyan visited Hrazdan on a non-workday and as the leader of the Republican Party, Mr. Tamazyan agreed, “Yes, Serzh Sargsyan’s visit was not illegal, but what Kovalenko Shahgeldyan did was,” and he gave examples from the press that they obviously canvassed for the establishment’s candidate, current mayor Aram Danielyan, in the regional administration and furthermore there were already cases, when people had been fired for supporting opposition candidate Sasun Mikayelyan. According to Mr. Tamazyan, the regional administration uses administrative leverage and “holds meetings in factories and state that they will fire anyone who will give his vote for Sasun Mikayelyan or be noticed next to him.” Although Mr. Tamazyan is convinced that in this instance it is pointless to speak of whether the establishment has the political will to hold a normal and fair election, at the same time, he has the faith that Sasun Mikayelyan will be able to “crack the establishment’s pyramid,” anyway.
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By the way, Larisa Alaverdyan said that the Heritage Party had already stated that it endorsed Sasun Mikayelyan’s candidacy at the Hrazdan election.
