KOCHARIAN WARNS OPPOSITION AGAINST POST-ELECTION PROTESTS
By Emil Danielyan and Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 27 2007

President Robert Kocharian warned the Armenian opposition on Friday
against challenging the official results of next month’s parliamentary
elections in the streets, saying that fresh attempts to unseat him
would meet with a tough government response.

Meeting with university students and professors in Yerevan, Kocharian
said the Armenian authorities will do "everything in their power" to
ensure the freedom and fairness of the May 12 vote. But he stressed
that the country’s leading political parties, which appoint most
members of various-level election commissions, are equally responsible
for its proper conduct.

Kocharian claimed that opposition parties are preparing ground for
allegations of massive vote rigging by making what he described as
highly unrealistic assessments of their popularity. "So it is very
likely that after May 12 we will see a number of news conferences,
and the dissatisfied section of election contenders will definitely
state that the elections were rigged," he said.

"The danger is that after such declarations a question will arise:
If somebody stole your votes, why aren’t you reclaiming your votes and
what are the ways of reclaiming your votes? Perhaps one of those ways
is to once again try to undermine the country’s political stability.

They may test it, but there would definitely be an adequate response.

Nobody should doubt that."

Some of the opposition contenders, notably the radical Hanrapetutyun
(Republic) party, make no secret of their plans to use the vote for
launching another campaign of street protests aimed at overthrowing the
Kocharian administration. Other, more moderate opposition parties have
not ruled out the possibility of joining anti-government demonstrations
in the event of large-scale electoral abuse.

Kocharian already cracked down on the opposition when it last tried
unsuccessfully to topple him three years ago. He said on Friday
that new opposition attempts to replicate anti-government "color
revolutions" that have took place in some former Soviet republics are
doomed to fail also because they are opposed by the vast majority of
the people. He said Armenians do not want the kind of political turmoil
that has gripped two of those republics, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

"It is clear to everyone that the illegitimate way of coming to power
costs countries and peoples very dearly," said Kocharian.

The Armenian leader stated at the same time that most of his political
opponents have "abandoned radical extremist agendas" and that the
election campaign has been "quite tranquil and civilized" so far. He
insisted that they are able to hold campaign meetings across the
country without any government obstacles, rejecting claims to the
contrary made by opposition leaders.

Kocharian also indicated that Armenia’s main pro-presidential parties
are well placed to win a majority in the next National Assembly because
of recent years’ robust economic growth and improvement in living
standards which he attributed to policies pursued by his government. He
specifically mentioned the governing Republican Party (HHK) and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation as well as the Prosperous Armenia
Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian. The BHK is widely regarded
as the brainchild and new main support base of Kocharian.

The HHK and the BHK are already facing opposition allegations of foul
play. The legitimacy of the HHK’s victory in the last parliamentary
elections was seriously questioned by international observers, the
opposition and even Dashnaktsutyun.

"The authorities will do everything in their power to have good
results in the [conduct of the] elections," said Kocharian. "But it
must also be clear that responsibility for the elections is born not
only by the authorities but also political forces. Especially those
political forces that form [election] commissions."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress