ARMENIAN REGIONAL OPPOSITION BLAMES AUTHORITIES FOR "INFLUENCING" VOTERS

Haykakan Zhamanak
Dec 11 2007
Armenia

The regional branches of several Armenian opposition parties have
protested against attempts to influence voters ahead of the 19 February
presidential election, Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper has reported.

The regional branch leaders of the Hnchak Social Democratic Party
of Armenia, the Republic Party, the Heritage Party, the Armenian
Pan-National Movement, the People’s Party of Armenia and other
political parties in the northern Armenian town of Vanadzor issued a
statement on 10 December saying that local schoolchildren are being
used in order to find out political inclinations of their parents,
the report said.

The statement said that efforts are under way to use schoolchildren
to persuade their parents that Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan is an
irreplaceable political leader. The statement adds that the authorities
are using information to influence further voting patterns.