OPPOSITION FULFILLED ITS MISSION IN THE PARLIAMENT

A1+

| 20:02:27 | 31-08-2005 | Politics |

“The authorities were beaten during the discussions as they were
not able to bring any counter-arguments to those brought about by
the opposition”, announced the leader of the National Unity Artashes
Geghamyan today in the Parliament.

He turned to the voters mentioning, “Saying “No” to the Referendum
will mean to say “No” to the organizers of the October 27 events,
to those who forged the Presidential elections of 1998 and 2003,
and the organizers of the April 12 events”.

Leader of the United Labor Party Gourgen Arsenyan said that they will
say “Yes” to the Constitution, but on the condition of holding free
and transparent voting.

Leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Levon Lazarian
reminded about the historical past of our country when we lost our
statehood failing each other. According to him, now we are facing
the same danger.

He called the deputies not to follow their personal or party
interests but those of the state which demands to say “Yes” to the
Constitutional amendments. BY the way, Both Levon Lazarian and
Tigran Torosyan repeated several times that the referendum cannot
be held with forgeries and that Armenia has not right to allow more
forgeries during any elections.

Leader of the Justice bloc Stepan Demirchyan announced in his speech
that the acting constitution too requires to hold fair and transparent
elections, but the present authorities have taken to steps to create
and atmosphere of trust and to punish the organizers of forgeries. The
TV Company “A1+” continues to be deprived of air, and the decision
of the Constitutional court to organize a confidence referendum has
not been realized. At the end of his speech Stepan Demirchyan called
the voters to say “No” to the Constitutional amendments.

After his speech the whole opposition, including the “National Unity”
left the Parliament hall. Neither will they participate in the
voting tomorrow. So, the opposition fulfilled its mission in the
Parliament. And tomorrow the coalition will do the same voting for
the draft Constitution which will be sent to Robert Kocharyan. The
third reading will most probably be on September 12.