ANOTHER OPPOSITION PARTY OPTS FOR ELECTION BOYCOTT
By Hovannes Shoghikian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 29 2007
A second Armenian opposition party announced on Thursday its decision
to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, saying that they
will not be free and fair.
The leader of the small Liberal Progressive Party (AAK), Hovannes
Hovannisian, said it will instead concentrate on organizing
anti-government demonstrations in the wake of the May 12 elections.
"I believe that the outcome of the May 12 parliamentary elections
must be decided on the streets," he told RFE/RL. "There will be no
elections as such."
Hovannisian admitted that the AAK would fail to win at least 5 percent
of the vote needed for winning seats in the National Assembly under
the system of proportional representation. But he claimed that that
would be the result of vote rigging and not its lack of popularity
and political clout.
The former parliamentarian, who was a senior Communist Party member in
Soviet times but now stands for Armenia’s membership in NATO, said the
upcoming polls will mirror a weekend local election in the southern
town of Armavir. Its incumbent mayor affiliated with the governing
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) won reelection through a heavy
use of government levers. The mayor’s main challenger representing
another establishment party alleged massive fraud.
The AAK’s boycott follows a similar decision made by another, bigger
opposition party, the National Democratic Union (AZhM), early this
month. It resulted from the collapse of the AZhM’s talks with three
other opposition groups over the formation of an electoral alliance.
The AZhM leader, Vazgen Manukian, argued that opposition parties
stand no chance of winning a parliament majority by contesting the
elections on their own. He also said the authorities’ have development
more sophisticated "mechanisms for hiding vote falsifications."
The other major opposition forces are clearly less pessimistic on this
score. But at least one of them, the radical Hanrapetutyun (Republic),
makes no secret of its intention to use the elections for staging a
campaign of anti-government street protests.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
