VOTING FOR THE ARF MEANS VOTING FOR THE FUTURE
By Sevak Hakobian

Yerkir.am
April 27, 2007

Member of the ARF’s Supreme Body, Minister of Agriculture Davit Lokian,
member of the ARF’s Supreme Body Haykazun Alvrtsian, candidate Eteri
Sevoyan, ARF member and Consul General of Armenia in Saint Petersburg
Ruben Hakobian and head of the vocational education department at the
Ministry of Science and Education Ruben Gasparian visited Byureghavan
on April 26. During the meeting with the community residents they
explained why people should vote for the ARF.

"The road ARF proposes you to choose will allow us to gather here
in 5 years and be proud of reporting to you, and you will be content
with our work. To vote for the ARF means to vote for the future that
we will build with the realistic program the party is proposing,"
Alvrtsian said in his statement addressed to the residents of
Byureghavan. We need system changes today, we need a drastic change of
the situation. The ARF has its own approach to these reforms and can
propose a clearcut timeline for achieving such change, Alvrtsian said.

Davit Lokian stated in his speech that people know about the ARF form
different sources: in the Soviet period the ARF was presented in a
negative light.

For the past 17 years the voters can judge about the party based on
its activities.

"We do everything to ensure Armenia’s security. It is important
to solve geopolitical issues so that we can live in peace in this
region. Recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the Hay Dat issue
is of primary importance for us and we are pursuing these causes
everywhere," Lokian said. Today the issue of opening the border with
Turkey is widely discussed. In this context, some political forces
argue that it is because of the ARF that we cannot open the border.

Lokian presented a counter-argument to this position. In the beginning
of 1990’s when the ARF was neutralized the issue of opening the border
was also on the agenda.

What couldn’t they solve it? Wasn’t ARF neutralized in that
time? Answering this question, Lokian stated that the reason is that
Turkey itself is putting forward preconditions, namely, settlement
of the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan which implies a
settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan.

ARF is a part of the political coalition and is trying to solve a
number of problems in sectors it leads. It does not matter whether
or not the ARF will get into the parliament or will join the
government. ARF will always work to solve the problems the people
are facing.

"ARF insists on the application of the principle of social
justice. People cannot permanently believe that this is a transition
period. The transition period has already passed and it is time that
every citizen could get the government’s support," Lokian said. ARF
knows about the problems the country is facing very well and it has
solutions for all these problems. ARF has always taken a firm position
when implementing these solutions.

"We need a political party that would take the responsibility for
solving these problems," Lokian said. He believes we need changes in
the public administration system because there is overlap between the
functions of different structures. Lokian believes it will be possible
to regulate these issues by amending the Law on Community Management,
the Law on Economic Management and the Law on the Government.

The voters will hear lots of statements like this during the electoral
campaign and will have difficulties differentiating between different
opinions. " Be careful and pay attention to whether this or that
party can solve the issues it is raising," Lokian said.

Changing parties has become a profession

Ruben Hakobian said the ARF representatives have come to say why people
should vote for the ARF. "We are not trying to convince you. We are
just saying that we are a party that has a biography. You are the
ones to decide whether this is good or bad. But we are proud of our
biography, our comrades are proud of it. If you have followed our
party members’ activities you have probably noticed that they have
remained the same for the past 17 years, they have not left the ARF
to join other parties.

They were together in the prisons and in times of struggle, they were
together in times of success. The political arena was distorted and
changing parties became a profession for some individuals. It is not
bad that there are many parties, this makes it possible to choose
among them. There is an English proverb that says, "People deserve
the government they have." You might say that there are many unworthy
people among the government.

Do the people deserve such a government? How do such people enter the
parliament?" Hakobian said noting that a polarized and scared society
cannot solve any problems. Meanwhile the ARF is suggesting that the
society should unite. " I believe that you will vote as your conscience
tells you. It does not matter for whom you will vote. What matters is
that you should not sell your votes and your future," Hakobian stated.

Head of the Department of Universities at the Ministry of Science
and Education Ruben Gasparian noted that in the past it was probably
possible to cheat the voters but today people do not trust mere words.

"Today the platform the political forces present is important for
the voters. Some forces might present a platform but they do not have
the resources to implement it. ARF does not present a platform that
cannot be implemented. The education sector was once again entrusted
to the ARF one year ago and positive changes were accomplished in
this period. Every citizen knows deep in his heart for whom he is
going to vote and I hope you will vote for the ARF," Gasparian said.

A number of issues relating to the education, social and agricultural
sectors were raised during the meeting. The ARF representatives also
met the residents of Nor Hachn and Garni communities.