ARMENPRESS
WEST-BENDING PARTY LEADER RESOUNDS KEY SIGNIFICANCE OF
MAY 12 ELECTIONS
YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS: The chairman of a
west-bending Liberal Progressive Party of Armenia
echoed last Saturday leaders of pro-government and
opposition parties saying the May 12 parliamentary
elections are extremely important to Armenia.
"These are not just words and everyone understands
that the polls will be a watershed choice between two
directions,’ the party chairman Hovhannes Hovhanesian
said to a news conference today.
Asked to explain why his party decided to boycott
the elections Hovhanesian said the first reason is
that the elections will not reflect the real extent of
popular support to political parties and the second
reason is that the political landscape of the country
is not rational yet.
"We decided to drop out of the race to let bigger
parties with bigger platforms fight for the National
Assembly’s seats,’ he said.
Nevertheless Hovhanesian said he believes that 40
percent of his country fellows support and sympathize
with his party’s ideology, ‘but the trouble is that 95
percent of them ignore the elections."
He said participation is of key importance since by
going to the polls voters will minimize the
authorities’ chances to rig the vote.
At the end of his news conference Hovhanesian
defended a proposal for shifting to one hundred
percent proportional electoral system under which all
131 members of the parliament are to be elected by
party lists, but despite it he is running in a
single-mandate constituency in Yerevan.