OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS WILL FIGHT ON DESPITE VOTE BOYCOTT
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 5 2007

Vazgen Manukian, a veteran opposition politician, insisted on Monday
that he is not retiring from the political arena despite his party’s
decision to boycott the May 12 elections to Armenia’s parliament.

"We are not quitting politics," he told RFE/RL in an interview. "We
will remain actively involved in it."

Manukian’s National Democratic Union (AZhM) decided not to contest the
elections last week after the failing to form an electoral alliance
with several other major opposition parties. The collapse of their
negotiations is widely expected to make it easier for President
Robert Kocharian and his loyalists to win a majority in the next
National Assembly.

Manukian said he believes that by contesting the elections separately,
the leading Armenia opposition forces stand no real chance of winning
a parliament majority. "Mechanisms for hiding vote falsifications have
become quite sophisticated," he said. "In these circumstances, it would
be possible to change the situation only if there emerged a broad-based
opposition movement. But even that would not guarantee success as
you also have to do a huge amount of work at the grassroots level."

The upcoming vote will therefore "not change the situation in Armenia,"
according to Manukian. "Being a deputy of this and next parliaments
is neither honorable nor makes sense."

Apart from the AZhM, the opposition talks also involved the People’s
Party (HZhK) of Stepan Demirchian, Kocharian’s main challenger in
the last presidential election, and two other parties led by Aram
Sarkisian and Raffi Hovannisian.

Demirchian agreed to team up with them on the condition that at least
half of the would-be bloc’s candidates represent the HZhK. According
to some media reports, he also demanded assurances that he would be
the bloc’s single candidate in next year’s presidential election. A
top aide to Demirchian, Grigor Harutiunian, did not deny this in a
weekend interview with RFE/RL.

The conditions were reportedly deemed unacceptable by Manukian,
Sarkisian, and Hovannisian. The three leaders failed to reach a
pre-election agreement even among themselves for reasons that are
not fully clear.

Manukian was reluctant to divulge details of their discussions,
saying only that he wanted the would-be bloc to have a collective
leadership. "I argued that if those several parties were to unite it
would be wrong to pick a leader," he said. "Even if I were offered
top the list of its candidates."

"I believe there should have been a committee made up of four or
five persons who would publicly declare the bloc’s aims, state that
they are all equal and decide who tops the list by a draw," added
the AZhM leader.

Manukian himself led the Armenian opposition in 1996 when it
nearly succeeded in unseating then President Levon Ter-Petrosian
in a reputedly fraudulent presidential election. His influence and
popularity have declined dramatically since then. Manukian fared
extremely poorly in the first round of the 2003 presidential ballot
before endorsing Demirchian for a tense runoff with Kocharian.

The 61-year-old mathematician, who headed Armenia’s first
post-Communist government in 1990-1991 and was defense minister during
the most successful period of its war with Azerbaijan, made it clear
that he will again run for president in 2008. "I will definitely
nominate my candidacy in the presidential election," he said. "Without
any arrogance, I would say that if there is anyone who can defeat
this regime, it’s me. But that could happen only if I am surrounded
by an appropriate team and trust."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress