On April 5, Davit Harutyunyan, the head of the National Assembly state and legal issues standing committee, offered all direct participants in the election process on behalf of his party – the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) – to discuss the RPA draft of Rules Guaranteeing Civilized Competition During Elections. And although the author of that document hoped that his public offer would be properly responded to, however, the reality is that only the Rule of Law Party (RLP) has agreed so far to cooperate with the RPA on the basis of that document. Others still think and the Armenian National Congress (ANC) has already stated that it will not join and will not sign the document offered by the RPA. During a conversation with www.aravot.am, Khachatur Kokobelyan, the manager of the joint headquarters of the Heritage Party and the Free Democrats Party, said that this document had been sent to them, they had received and he was aware of its content, but they didn’t have exact position or decision in that regard at that moment.
Kokobelyan said that they would discuss mechanisms of supervision over electoral processes and offers of different formats related to that. “We also have our own approach and offers that we will make public and everyone will know about them. But we can say which of the offers is acceptable for us only after clarifying the position of other forces and reconciling it
with our approach and demands,” said the representative of the Free Democrats Party, adding that they would offer articles in the context of cooperation between 4 forces – the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), the ANC and the Heritage Party – regarding “charity,” because “we will sign that document only if those articles are included, otherwise, we won’t.”
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Kokobelyan found it not very probable that the Heritage Party would join all the initiatives offered, “Since there isn’t clarity in any of the offers, I think one should either try to combine all these offers-formats or make a choice, because what is it – you are both here and there? There are a limited number of forces participating in the election in Armenia and I think we have to come to an agreement in terms of supervising the election. We should establish such a political and electoral culture that would be desirable during this whole election campaign.”
Given the fact that the PAP engaged in active charity these days has joined one – the Statement of Four – of the two existing documents on supervision over the electoral processes and the other is offered by the RPA that has rigged elections during the past 14 years, we asked how credible the initiatives, in which those forces participated, could be. “Considering that very thing, I say that we have concrete offers and I don’t see any need for us to sign such a formal document. When we are sure and convinced that it will not be a declaration, but will be implemented in practice and will refer to specific work and when it is clear what mechanisms of supervision will be offered or how the circumstances during that supervision will be overcome, if they do not suffice the sides, only then we can definitely express our position. I can clearly say one thing on my behalf and responsibility – we are against any formal activities and documents to begin with. Their goal should not be imitation – as if they have an intention to supervise the election, but legitimization of fraud and things not characteristic of the campaign underlie it,” stated Khachatur Kokobelyan, the manager of the Heritage Party pre-election headquarters and the leader of the Free Democrats Party.
Naira MAMIKONYAN
