When asked a question about the political situation before the election, Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia, stated in an interview given to Ogoniok, a Russian magazine: “I, as a candidate for president, seize every legal opportunity to conduct an efficient election campaign myself. There are equal conditions for all candidates to hold campaign events and to conduct an election campaign. No one puts any obstacles in their way. A few groups of international observers are already working in the country. They have everything that is necessary to objectively assess the election. The press is open for all kinds of opinions; the registration of candidates was transparent.”
Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Vanadzor Office is carrying out a monitoring mission. www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with Artur Sakunts, the manager of the office, whether the situation depicted by Serzh Sargsyan and the results of their monitoring coincided. He gave a negative answer and went into detail: “His very visit to Vanadzor, which was accompanied by massively forcing teachers, kindergarten employees to go to that meeting; even classes were disrupted. No one can imagine such a thing at a meeting of any other candidate. The whole educational system is an institution subordinate to the government. Everyone, from directors to teachers, is a Republican. They use state, human, financial, and party resources in such a way that one can by no means speak of equal conditions. Therefore, it doesn’t correspond to the reality; Serzh Sargsyan is lying. On the other hand, the fact that the three main parliamentary forces don’t participate in the election adds to inequality.” Aram Harutyunyan, a candidate for president, in his turn thinks that there had been unequal conditions as early as before the nominations. He said: “The pressure manifested itself in eavesdropping, accusations of money laundering, and trumping up charges against supporters. Now is another stage. I have convened two press conferences in three days, but it has never been covered by the Public Television. Or the assassination attempt on Hayrikyan. There would be equal conditions, if assassination attempts were made on everyone. We can hear information from regions that people are taken to Serzh Sargsyan’s meetings from schools; they were told that if they came to the meeting, they could stay home the next day. Or someone’s home was flooded in the region of Ararat; they called the office of the water supply network and were told that there was no one in the office, since everyone had left for the meeting. Equal conditions should be created, not just talked about.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
