Representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) also handed out election bribe during the election, moreover, even in those electoral districts, where the ANC had a candidate. So, the election bribe of the PAP was also against the ANC. In this regard, Felix Khachatryan, an ANC representative and the secretary of the People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) executive committee, said during a conversation with www.aravot.am, “And so what, there are rogues in the Prosperous Armenia Party too, there is no denying.” In response to our observation that it was the same Prosperous Armenia Party, with which the ANC had struggled against election fraud in the joint staff, Mr. Khachatryan said, “Yes, it is possible, I repeat there are careerists and rogues in every party, no one does anything, if they have caught them, let them check and punish them.” In response to our question how the ANC could travel a road with a party engaged in election bribery, he said, “The ANC trusts everyone, except for the Republican Party and the Rule of Law Party, but, I repeat there are rogues in every party, including the PAP, but one cannot attribute it to the whole party.”
We tried to get clarification whether they had any fears in regard to the PAP that it played now in the opposition camp, now in the coalition camp and if, nonetheless, the PAP formed a coalition with the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), how they
would feel, Felix Khahcatryan said, “Whatever they do, they will do it for themselves. The people assess that. There were people that had changed the camp, you saw how the people assessed, didn’t you?”
As for the election, F. Khachatryan made the following assessment, “There has never been such a disgraceful election, it was worse than the previous one. They consider this election as a more civilized one, so, they think bribing the people, humiliating them is more civilized.”
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In response to our question whether he himself had registered any violation, he said that he hadn’t been in polling stations, but he had received many phone calls, “People standing at the window watched and saw how they had handed out money out of GAZels. And those seals were prepared in advance. During the election in Hrazdan, they said one shouldn’t seal and this time they prepared those seals and engaged people in carousel voting.”
In regard to international observers’ assessment that one could just shake the ink and use it, Felix Khachatryan said, “What can a European know about these guys’ brigandage, whole Javakhk voted here, what can a European do? They come with passports, they check, there is registration, they vote, what can a proxy or an observer do, how can they know where that person has really come from and how he has been added to the list?”
He agrees with Levon Ter-Petrossian that they should file a petition in the Constitutional Court, however, he doesn’t pin hopes on it, “The Constitutional Court has become an ordinary court that does what the government wishes, it cannot oppose the government, how can it oppose, it has been involved in so many things, how can it oppose the government? And there is a long way to go before reaching the European Court.”
We tried to get a commentary also from Davit Shahnazaryan, an official at the ANC central office, however, he didn’t wish to talk about that, saying that he didn’t want to say anything concerning the internal political life, “If you have questions concerning foreign policy, please ask, but I don’t want to make any commentary on the internal policy yet.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
