DEMIRCHIAN DENIES TALKS ON NEW OPPOSITION BLOC
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
Jan 15 2007

Stepan Demirchian, the top leader of the increasingly moribund
Artarutyun (Justice) alliance, insisted on Monday that the creation of
a new broad-based opposition bloc is not imminent despite optimistic
statements made by his erstwhile allies.

Demirchian said his People’s Party of Armenia (HZhK), the largest
of a dozen parties aligned in Artarutyun, is only discussing with
various opposition forces ways of ensuring proper conduct of the
upcoming parliamentary elections and may well contest them on it own.

"We have repeatedly pointed out that we are ready to participate in
those elections separately," he told RFE/RL in an interview. "On
February 17, the HZhK will hold a regular congress and ascertain
all questions regarding our participation. All I can say now is that
we are not holding negotiations with any party on the formation of
an alliance."

Two other opposition heavyweights, Artashes Geghamian and Aram
Sarkisian, claimed last week that such negotiations are underway. "I
am really delighted with the current negotiations in terms of their
quality and responses of opposition leaders," Sarkisian said.

The three opposition leaders already joined forces nearly three years
ago in an attempt to force President Robert Kocharian to step down
with a campaign of demonstrations. Their personal relationships have
been strained ever since the failure of the effort, with Sarkisian
effectively pulling his radical Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party out
of Artarutyun.

"We do not rule out formation of alliances, but at the moment
there are no such negotiations," insisted Demirchian. He said the
HZhK will support "cooperation of opposition forces for the sake of
democratic elections" in any case. In particular, he backed the idea
of opposition parties fielding single candidates in all of Armenia’s
41 single-mandate electoral districts ahead of the May vote. The
remaining 90 seats in the Armenian parliament will be distributed on
the party list basis.

Like other opposition leaders, Demirchian was highly dismissive
of government pledges to end Armenia’s history of electoral fraud,
saying that the Kocharian administration will again do everything
to hold on to power. "In order to reproduce itself, the regime is
resorting to both vote buying and government levers," he claimed.

In his New Year address to the nation, Kocharian said he is confident
that the vote "will be held up to the mark."