HOVANNISIAN RELUCTANT TO JOIN RADICAL OPPOSITION
By Irina Hovannisian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 15 2007

Raffi Hovannisian appeared reluctant on Tuesday to join more radical
opposition leaders in challenging the official results of the Armenian
parliamentary elections, despite accusing the authorities of stealing
two-thirds of ballots cast for his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party.

Zharangutyun and the Orinats Yerkir Party of former parliament speaker
Artur Baghdasarian are the only opposition forces that won seats in
Armenia’s new parliament controversially elected on Saturday. According
to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Hovannisian’s party won
about 6 percent of the vote and will have 6 seats in the 131-member
National Assembly.

Zharangutyun looked set to make a stronger showing shortly after the
closure of polls late on Saturday when Armenian TV channels reported
first vote results from Yerevan and other parts of the country. The
party seemed to be doing particularly well in many Yerevan precincts
where it trailed only the governing the Republican Party (HHK.) In
the event, it barely managed to clear the 5 percent vote threshold for
being represented in the parliament under the system of proportional
representation.

Hovannisian claimed that Zharangutyun polled three times more votes
than were shown in the CEC’s preliminary vote tally. "We saw those
250,000 votes [cast for Zharangutyun] shrink to 80,000 through a
miscounting and invalidation of ballots," he said.

"When European observers speak of progress [in the conduct of
Armenian elections,] they probably mean that 250,000 was not turned
into 25,000," he added sarcastically in reference to their positive
assessment of the vote.

Orinats Yerkir and virtually all other opposition parties have
similarly refused to recognize the official election outcome, alleging
widespread fraud. The most radical of those parties plan to continue
to hold anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan and hope that they
will be joined by Orinats Yerkir and Zharangutyun.

While not ruling out such possibility, Hovannisian indicated that
his party will likely accept the parliament mandates allotted to
it by the CEC and will not boycott sessions of the newly elected
parliament. He promised to clarify its stance after the publication
of the final vote results.

"Zharangutyun is entering the parliament as an opposition party,
and the fact that we will be in small minority gives us even greater
responsibility," the U.S.-born politician told a news conference. "At
the same time we appreciate the spirit of [opposition] solidarity
and cooperation. If we see that that spirit reigns and if see we
that there are no ulterior motives and parochial interests involved
… everything can be considered."

Hovannisian also said Zharangutyun will not appeal to the
Constitutional Court against the election results but is ready to
assist in a legal challenge planned by Orinats Yerkir. "Some of our
distinguished colleagues will be appealing to the Constitutional
Court," he said. "Zharangutyun will also participate in that process
by providing concrete facts to our colleagues."