ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
September 28, 2006 Thursday
ARMENIAN OPPOSITION AND RULING COALITION SLATE EACH OTHER IN PRESENCE
OF PACE RAPPORTEURS
Yerevan September 28
PACE rapporteurs Georges Colombier and Mikko Elo met today with
representatives of parliamentary forces, chairmen of parliamentary
commissions and Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torossyan.
One of the participants in the meeting says that during the meeting
the leader of the National Democratic Union party Vazgen Manoukyan
said that people in Armenia are disappointed with the European
structures, who are doing nothing to develop democracy in Armenia and
seem to have become toys in the hands of the present regime.
In response, Colombier said that in order to prove their resolution
to develop democracy in Armenia the European structures may well
exclude the country from a number of projects.
Manoukyan retorted that this would be a blow on people rather than
authorities. The only thing people expect from Europe is to honestly
say what is actually going on in Armenia. For example, CE observers
should have honestly said that only 20% of voters took part in the
constitutional referendum. Instead, they just said that there were
some violations as they wanted to push the constitutional reforms
through at any expense – even through fraud.
In response, Colombier said that the assessments of the CE observers
were based on the information provided by the ambassadors of CE
countries to Armenia.
The member of the National Unity parliamentary group Aghasi Arshakyan
said that the present Constitution of Armenia "has been sewn to fit
Robert Kocharyan who wants to put his comrade Defense Minister Serzh
Sargsyan in his place." Today power in Armenia is in the hands of
8-10 people.
In his turn, the representative of the pro-governmental United Labor
Party Grigor Konjeyan said that before criticizing the government the
opposition should remember the years of their own rule. Both
Manoukyan and the leader of the most radical opposition force
Republic party Aram Sargsyan were Prime Ministers and under Sargsyan
Armenia experienced economic decline.