PARTY LEADER DROPS OUT OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY RACE AMID ALLEGED PRESSURE
Aravot, Yerevan
28 Mar 07 pp 1, 3
The text of Anna Israyelyan report in Armenian newspaper Aravot
published on 28 March headlined "Time came and we saw ‘payback.’ Did
Samvel Babayan yield because of pressure, or…?"
In the summer of 2006, Dashink party leader Samvel Babayan told Radio
Liberty [Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty], "No one should be sure
that he can do fraud and not be held accountable on the spot." When
he was asked who would be the one to hold accountable, Babayan said:
"Time will come, and you will see."
The politician, who made such a big statement, withdrew his candidacy
yesterday [27 March] from electoral constituency No 37 [in Syunik
Region]. This is how Gnel Ghlechyan, the secretary of the Dashink
political council, explained one of the reasons for this withdrawal:
"What was going in the electoral constituency No 37 is a shame. One
could see blatant violations of law at almost every step months before
the election. This, of course, has affected our decision."
In his interviews with A1+, Radio Liberty and Arminfo yesterday,
Ghlechyan was offering the same texts to explain [Samvel Babayan’s]
withdrawal. One of the reasons is that the state machine has begun
to use administrative and financial resources as well as pressure
to secure its candidate’s victory. Does this mean that former Goris
mayor Samvel Harutyunyan, who is a candidate in the same constituency
and whose candidacy will be supported by Dashink – as the party said
yesterday – has more financial resources or he can fight against the
authorities more efficiently? It is not credible, to say the least.
This is why journalists wondered whether the authorities’ pressure was
the real reason for the withdrawal. "No. There has been no pressure
or threats against Samvel Babayan," Ghlechyan said, adding that the
decision has also nothing to do with the recent rumours about Dashink,
calling those rumours absurd. "Nothing like that has happened,"
he said.
It would be right for the Dashink members to coordinate their
statements because what Ghlechayan – the third on the party list of
candidates – denies, has been confirmed by Hmayak Hovhannisyan – the
fourth on the party list- in the 168 Zham newspaper’s 24 March issue.
In connection with the rumours that one of Samvel Babayan’s bodyguards
was detained on charges of illegal weapon possession, Hovhannisyan had
said, "There were no weapons. It was an effort to instigate something
we have not done. In our reality, such things happen to politicians
with an effort to use psychological pressure with the aim of pushing
them to adopt a milder, restricted and fearful position. In our case,
this cannot be successful, because the members of the team that
Babayan leads is not cowards, and will not yield to psychological
pressure. Simply, some representatives of law-enforcement agencies
had not calculated their own abilities, and tried to put pressure on
our team using rough methods."
Apparently, the pressure was successful. However, instead of admitting
this, Ghlechyan tried to blame the opposition. "Some political forces
claiming to be oppositionist and entitled to have members in the
electoral commissions had earlier promised to cooperate in thwarting
election fraud but they do not act according to their words. According
to the information we have, they cooperate with the authorities,
they have sold their places [in electoral commissions]." He refused
to name concrete names. The Justice bloc, the National Unity party
[of Artashes Geghamyan] and the Orinats Yerkir party of [former
parliament speaker Artur Baghdasaryan] have representatives in
electoral commissions. Yesterday, they were very surprised about
Ghlechyan ‘s statement but refused to comment because Ghlechyan did
not offer specific names. It is unlikely that those names will ever
be mentioned because the truth seems to be different.
According to the Radio Liberty, Babayan has been given a certificate
that he is a permanent resident of Armenia [a requirement for
candidates] in exchange for withdrawal of his candidacy in the
constituency No 37. Otherwise, he would be prevented from running
under the proportional representation system, too.