“The election has been rigged another time, once again, anew, and every one of us knows about that. While the regime is in power in Armenia, there will be no free and fair elections,” Zoya Tadevosyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), said during a conversation with www.aravot.am assessing the results of the presidential election in Armenia. Then she added: “Not only we – members of commissions and the mass media – but also the people witnessed that. A situational phenomenon that is a fact and has witnesses is more important than assessments, since a fact cannot be assessed, it can be asserted. You can assert that the election has been rigged. It has been rigged shamelessly and savagely. And this is considered as high treason, a crime, for which officials should hastily leave and be held accountable in accordance with the legal procedure.” Ms. Tadevosyan also informed that 25 members of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) had carried out a monitoring mission on the election day, as a result of which they will make a statement soon. Vardan Bostanjyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), thinks otherwise. He said: “I haven’t seen a situation when there was any obstacle to any of the candidates. I think that in terms of objectivity, the election was held as it should be. The results of the election convince me even more, since Bagratyan and Raffi Hovhannisyan were candidates, and at the end of the day, our political forces are represented at the moment. At least as far as the above-mentioned persons are concerned, different levels were represented. However, every one of us is convinced that the office of presidency will be entrusted to the incumbent president insofar as he has been an active participant in the process of liberalization and has made contribution in that regard.” Anush Sedrakyan, the deputy leader of the Free Democrats Party, in her turn, said regarding this: “80 percent of the Armenian electorate had opposition sentiment, but it didn’t fully conceive the essence of being opposition, as far as the ideas are concerned. There wasn’t a choice between two ideological programs. There was a choice between a bad social condition, unequal economic competition, emigration, and some possible alternative. Naturally, this distribution of votes was absolutely logical. It is a different matter that the opposition hasn’t been able to explain its ideology to the people for a long time, since the people’s agenda doesn’t include the issue of an alternative ideology; they just want a change of the situation. The results of the election showed that the opposition camp can consolidate and jointly represent itself, if there is some constructive ideology. It largely depends also on Raffi Hovhannisyan’s steps, how he will direct the electorate that trusted him.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Hope all sides control themselves, no tanks in the street please.