Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan, in Armenian
24 Sep 05 p 3
Armenian opposition leader urges unity to reject constitutional
reform
Headlined “The authorities are in deadlock”
An interview with the leader of the Anrapetutyun [Republic] Party,
Aram Sarkisyan.
[Haykakan Zhamanak correspondent] Mr Sarkisyan, if the opposition
cannot unite in the local government elections, where are the
guarantees that the opposition will be able to unite during the
constitutional referendum and the processes taking place before and
after it?
[Aram Sarkisyan] As far as the local government elections are
concerned, I can confidently say that there is no election system in
Armenia. Moreover, local government elections are less politicized
than the parliamentary or presidential election, and only after
changing the president, radical changes are possible in this country.
For this reason, the public becomes active mainly during a
presidential election. As for the constitutional referendum, I am
sure that irrespective of everything, the whole opposition will unite
as a team. All forces that will say “no” to these constitutional
changes will unite and there is no alternative to this unification.
For this reason, it is not by chance that panic is clearly seen in
the government camp, which is expressed by the Dashnaks’ hints to
postpone the referendum. That is to say if they see that the positive
result of the referendum is not guaranteed, they will postpone it.
The authorities understand very well that a serious wave of the
people’s movement will start in November.
[Correspondent] Can we say that any result of the constitutional
referendum, as well as its postponement, is a deadlock for the
authorities?
[Sarkisyan] Yes, we can. These authorities have no way out of the
November deadlock. A pan-national movement is unavoidable with any
result of the constitutional referendum, as well as if there is an
attempt to postpone the referendum.
[Correspondent] Mr Sarkisyan, as is known, you are going to meet
Yerevan State University students.
[Sarkisyan] My contacts with the people have shown that I need such a
meeting with young people. I am sure nobody will get in the way of my
meeting with the students.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress