The government uses administrative levers to pressure on people

A. Danielyan
04-07-2007 12:26:29 – KarabakhOpen

The election campaign continues, and the candidates have met with
voters in different places. However, nothing is known about two
candidates, Armen Abgaryan and Vania Avanesyan. They say Vania
Avanesyan does not meet voters because of the lack of funding. He said
he uses the free airtime on the public television and radio, the Azat
Artsakh Newspaper, and `there is no money to pay for more airtime.’

Armen Abgaryan is silent, refuses to hold interviews, does not meet
voters, or the meetings are not reported in the media. The reasons are
not known.

The other three candidates Masis Mayilyan, Bako Sahakyan and Hrant
Melkumyan meet with voters. We asked the candidates if equal
opportunities were created for the election campaign. Vania Avanesyan
said, `The opportunities are equal but not all the candidates have
possibility to use them.’ Bako Sahakyan thinks, `The law provides for
equal opportunities, and nobody has the right to create them.’ Hrant
Melkumyan says he has not faced difficulty yet because `the Communist
Party has offices in the capital and in the regions.’ Masis Mayilyan
holds the contrary opinion. He said the opportunities are not equal.

`Before the election campaign the administrative levers were not used
openly, now they are. The media ignore the law. We have already noticed
two major breaches, one on the first day of the campaign, the other on
the second day when after the time provided for the campaign one of the
candidates was propagated, and the other was denounced. My election
headquarters made a statement on the first day.’

Unfortunately, the government uses administrative levers to pressure on
people, which makes us revise our tactics. We often have to work in an
`underground’ mode to not stake people. It reminds me of the year 1988.
At that time the `crackdown’ of the government made act so, everyone
remembers. The government is now making the same mistake.

I think it must be a matter of honor for the government to hold a fair
election. For the government, which is going to leave, it is double
responsibility because it will shape public opinion on their
activities. They must acknowledge that the upcoming election is
essential to the international image of the country and its
development, Masis Mayilyan said.