DASHNAKS WARN AGAINST VOTE RIGGING
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 12 2006

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) will contest
next year’s parliamentary elections on its own and will pull out
of Armenia’s governing coalition if their results are falsified,
its leaders said on Tuesday.

They said the decision not form electoral alliances was made at a
conference of the nationalist party’s organization in Armenia which
finished its work at the weekend.

"It was decided that Dashnaktsutyun must participate in the
parliamentary elections by means of a broad-based cooperation with
other political forces but without forming election alliances,"
one of its leaders, Armen Rustamian, told a news conference. He said
Dashnaktsutyun will work closely with pro-democracy forces to prevent
a repeat of serious fraud that marred just about every election held
in the country since independence.

Rustamian warned that if the vote, due in early 2007, again falls
short of democratic standards, his party "will become extremely
resolute and move into opposition" to Armenia’s current leadership
which it has supported for the past eight-and-a-half years.

Dashnaktsutyun, which has four ministerial portfolios in President
Robert Kocharian’s current cabinet, will stop being a governing party
also in the event of its poor showing in the polls, he said.

"In that case, we would not be able to have the kind of influence that
is needed for making sure that important decisions in the country are
not made without our consent," explained the chairman of the Armenian
parliament’s committee on foreign relations.

Like the Armenian opposition, Dashnaktsutyun charged serious fraud
during the last parliamentary election held in May 2003. However,
it chose to join the governing coalition, citing the need to maintain
"political stability" in Armenia.

Its latest warnings appear primarily addressed to the governing
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) which many fear will try to win
control of the next National Assembly at any coast. Analysts say the
HHK’s unofficial leader, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, considers
victory in the 2007 elections to be vital for the success of his
reputed presidential ambitions.

Rustamian made it clear that the Dashnaks will not endorse Sarkisian’s
widely anticipated bid for the Armenian presidency. "As we have stated
repeatedly, Dashnaktsutyun is today inclined to have its own candidate
[in the 2008 presidential election]," he said.

"This is the dominant mood in the [party] ranks."