ARMENIAN AIDE NAMES POSSIBLE WINNERS IN PARLIAMENTARY POLLS

Arminfo
20 Apr 07

Yerevan, 20 April: Crime in Armenia that has become more frequent
lately will in no way influence the election in the country, the
Armenian president’s aide on national security Garnik Isagulyan told
a news conference in the National Press Club today.

Isagulyan said that people should not connect the assassination attempt
on the life of Gyumri mayor Vardan Ghukasyan and yesterday’s shooting
in the Erebuni community with the election.

Such facts happen regardless of whether there is an election in the
country or not. He talked about the blasts in the campaign offices
of the Prosperous Armenia Party and said that possibly some forces
interested in the destabilization of the election process could have
implemented them. "In any case, the country’s authorities control
the situation, and nobody should doubt that the election will be free
and fair," Isagulyan said.

He continued to speak about the election and forecasts on its
results. He repeated the statement that the political forces that
have opened representative offices in the country and have actively
worked with the population for four years since the previous election
will be the winners of the election. Those are the Prosperous Armenia
Party, the Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutyun. The parties that also work actively but
not in the whole country are the Heritage and Alliance Parties. The
People’s Party of Armenia and the United Labor Party also have many
offices. The rest prefer to limit themselves to haughty statements
on TV about 70 per cent of their votes, and talk about mass rigging
after losing. "The time of populism has gone, it is time to work.

Political forces themselves are not interested in rigging and
provocations," Isagulyan said.