MEKHAK AND VICTOR DISAGREE

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 14 2006

When the international organizations stated that they did not recognize
the referendum on the NKR Constitution, Victor Soghomonyan, the speaker
of President Robert Kocharyan advised them to keep silent. Meanwhile,
the secretary of the Businessman Parliamentary Group Mekhak Mkhitaryan
stated December 14 at the Friday Club that their silence would be
perceived as a sign of agreement, therefore the statements "are not
negative but watchful and natural".

Mekhak Mkhitaryan states that these statements will not have an
effect as long as the Karabakh conflict has not been settled yet,
and he does not think that these statements are the result of the
drawbacks of our diplomacy.

Mekhak Mkhitaryan has observed the referendum on the NKR Constitution
and reports two major differences compared with similar events in
Armenia: first, people are more active, and music is played at the
polling stations. Maybe the music makes people more enthusiastic,
and they go to vote with their families. Generally, "the referendum
was well-organized, no negative phenomena were reported."