RADICAL OPPOSITIONIST BLASTS EX-ALLIES
By Astghik Bedevian, Ruzanna Khachatrian, and Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 30 2007

The leader of the radical Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, Aram
Sarkisian, launched a blistering attack on two other prominent
opposition figures on Monday, saying that their personal ambitions
thwarted his attempts to unite the Armenian opposition.

Campaigning in the eastern Gegharkunik region, he said Stepan
Demirchian and Artashes Geghamian, President Robert Kocharian’s main
challengers in the last presidential election, are not committed to
regime change and would settle for a handful of seats in the next
Armenian parliament.

"They are taking care of their 5 percent objectives. All they want is
to enter parliament," Sarkisian told more than two hundred supporters
in Vartenis, a small town near the eastern coast of Lake Sevan. He
was referring to the minimum percentage of votes needed by parties to
win parliament seats under the system of proportional representation.

The Hanrapetutyun leader has until now avoided naming politicians who
he believes are responsible for the failure of his attempts earlier
this year to form a broad-based opposition bloc. He was particularly
critical of Geghamian.

"When you say, ‘Guys, let’s unite and draft a single proportional
list,’ Geghamian says, ‘No, going together is not good,’" said
Sarkisian. "Why? Because he is solving the issue of 5 percent to keep
going to Strasbourg and coming here and saying, ‘People, I’ve saved
your honor.’"

"If you, Stepan Demirchian and Artashes Geghamian, can’t figure out
who should be the first and second [on a single proportional list,]
toss a coin and close the issue," he added to rapturous applause from
the crowd.

Sarkisian, Demirchian and Geghamian had already joined forces in a
bid to unseat Kocharian with a campaign of street protests in Yerevan
three years ago. The two-month campaign ended in failure.

Sarkisian, who had briefly served as Armenia’s prime minister following
the October 1999 assassination of his brother and predecessor Vazgen,
again made no secret of his party’s plans to use May 12 elections for
another attempt at "democratic revolution." "May 12 will be followed by
May 13. On that day I will await [in Yerevan] the people of Vartenis
as well." he said at the rally held in front of the local office of
the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

Demirchian, meanwhile, campaigned for his People’s Party of Armenia
(HZhK) in other towns and villages of Gegharkunik. His meetings
there were attended by smaller number of people partly because of
heavy rain and hail. The HZhK campaign so far has been a far cry from
enthusiastic receptions which Demirchian enjoyed across the country
in the run-up to the 2003 presidential election.

Demirchian exposed his frustration with widespread voter cynicism as
he addressed a small crowd in the lakeside village of Lchashen.

"People don’t want to go to elections, saying that their votes will
be stolen anyway," he said. "Wherever I go, the meeting begins with
the same complaint, ‘We elect you but they steal our vote and they
will steal it again.’"

Demirchian went on to accuse the HHK and other pro-Kocharian parties
of large-scale vote buying. "They spend a fraction of unpaid taxes
on handing out humiliating vote bribes," he said. "But I believe that
the vast majority of our people will not sell their dignity."

The confusing abundance of opposition parties contesting the elections
on their own is seen as another reason for increased apathy among
Armenians unhappy with the government. Raffi Hovannisian, another
prominent oppositionist, saw first-hand evidence of their frustration
as he took his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party’s election campaign to
the southern Ararat region on Monday.

"Whom to elect? We don’t know," a man in the local village of
Surenavan told Hovannisian. "Why don’t you unite?" angrily shouted
another local resident.

"Any alliance is welcome because it’s a luxury for our small country
to have 50, 60 or 70 parties," responded Hovannisian. "I accept this
complaint. I think that a consolidation process will begin after
these elections."

Zharangutyun negotiated earlier this year with Hanrapetutyun and
two other opposition parties over the possibility of forming an
electoral alliance. The talks collapsed for reasons that are still
not fully clear.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress