RAMKAVAR AZATAKAN BRACES UP FOR 2007 ELECTIONS

Armenpress
May 23 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS: Ramkavar Azatakan (Democratic Liberal )
party of Armenia said it will contest the 2007 parliamentary elections,
but added that before launching the election campaign it has developed
a chain of amendments, which it would like to be incorporated in the
draft election code.

This party that contrary to big expectations, failed to overcome the
required threshold of collected votes to win a seat in the parliament
in 2003 polls, said today its amendments call for annulment of
one-mandate constituencies election system which must be replaced
by the so-called proportional election system when all seats are
contested by parties.

Another major amendments proposed by the party refers to parliament
members immunity. “The proposed amendment calls for elimination of
parliament member immunity so that people who consider the legislative
body as a safe heaven to avoid criminal and other responsibility leave
it alone and allow people who want to move this country forward come
and do their job,” party chairman Harutyun Arakelian said to a news
conference today.

Citing a provision from the draft election code that establishes a
seven percent voter threshold for blocs made up of two parties and a
ten percent threshold for three-member alliances Arakelian said the
election code does not reflect the interests of out-of- parliament
forces, but added that despite these challenges his party will fight
for seats in the parliament and will also nominate a candidate for
2008 presidential election.

Arakelian indicated also his party was not delighted with the
activity of the World Armenian Congress, run by the Russia-based
Armenian tycoon Ara Abrahamian, saying they are very likely to quit
the organization. He said though the Ramkavar Azatakan party was
one of its cofounders it learns about its plans from newspapers. He
also slammed Ara Abrahamian’s declared campaign of suing Turkey at
the International Human Rights Court for its denial of the Armenian
genocide, saying that would be tantamount to declaring war on Turkey.

He also argued that the first country to stand trial for the Armenian
genocide is Great Britain because ‘some documents leave no doubt that
the government of Great Britain in the early 20-th century instigated
Armenian pogroms in the Ottoman empire.”