ARF’s campaign will be built on values

Editorial

Yerkir.am
January 19, 2007

Hrayr Karapetian, the leader of the ARF faction in the parliament,
believes the incoming parliament should be a stable and politicized
one. Since the parliament’s role has been strengthened after the
constitutional amendments, the parliament should be comprised of
political forces that recognize this strengthened role and recognize
their increased responsibility in the new parliament.

Q: Mr. Karapetian, what will be special about the upcoming pre-election
campaign?

A: I would answer this question from two perspectives – from the
perspective of the overall campaign and the campaign of our party. Let
me start with the second perspective. ARF’s election campaigns have
always been centered around principles and ideas.

You cannot point out a single election, including the last elections,
when ARF would deviate from its traditional approaches and resorted to
other methods. The upcoming campaign will not be an exception for us
because I believe during the elections the voters should show their
preference not for individuals, or even worse, the electoral bribes
they pay, but for parties whose ideas and platforms they accept.

This is a classical case for the developed countries where citizens
show their preferences for the parties’ platforms. I think another
criterion should be considered from one election to the other – the
voters should understand that the political forces that stick to their
principles and do not change them radically before the elections –
these are the forces that are more stable, that do not change their
political teams and do not change their leaders. Our voters should
consider this criteria when making their choice.

As to the overall campaign – it will not be much different from the
previous campaigns. The actual pre-electoral campaign has not started
yet but we can already observe instances of black PR, accusations made
by some parties, scandalous statements made by political figures such
as the statement recently made by Artashes Geghamian about Prosperous
Armenia Party and the Republican Party. This is understandable to
some extent but the representatives of the political parties should
understand that it is not good to speak about other parties in the
pre-election period; they should rather speak about their parties and
convince the voters that their activities are in the voters’ interests.

Q: What prognosis can you make regarding the distribution of political
forces in the new parliament?

A: I really don’t like making any prognosis but looking at the
redistribution of the political forces we have today, I can say
with certainty that there are well-established political parties in
Armenia that have sufficient seats in the parliament today. They
also have an important role not in terms of the votes they have
received but in terms of the number and quality of laws they have
developed. These parties have a stable electorate; they need to work
to increase this electorate. I mean first of all the coalition forces
– the ARF, Republican Party and the political forces that have been
getting stronger recently. I cannot make any prognosis as to how long
this process will take place, I am referring here to the Prosperous
Armenia Party, but today I think this party is aiming at getting into
the parliament.

Of course, there cannot be a parliament without an opposition. Our
studies have shown that some voters support the opposition and will
vote for the opposition forces.

Q: Do you think new alliances within the opposition are possible?

A: As I already noted, the opposition will have seats in the new
parliament, but the number of seats the opposition gets will depend
on its behavior – what alliances will be formed, how the opposition
will design its pre-election strategy. I think people want stability,
they want a stable and politicized parliament because the parliament’s
role was strengthened after the constitutional referendum and our
citizens do realize this.

Therefore, the parliament should be comprised of political forces
that recognize this strengthened role and recognize their increased
responsibility in the new parliament. Both the political forces
whether pro-governmental or opposition, and the voters should go to
the elections with this sense of responsibility.

Interview conducted by Karine MANGASSARIAN

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress