HOVANNISIAN UNVEILS ELECTION QUESTIONNAIRE TO CANDIDATES
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Libert, Czech Rep.
Dec 18 2007
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian challenged Armenia’s presidential
candidates to state whether they ever broke law, list their
shortcomings and answer two dozen other questions Tuesday as he
specified his conditions for endorsing one of them for the February
19 election.
Hovannisian publicized and sent the list of 22 questions to all
nine candidates after presiding over a meeting of his Zharangutyun
(Heritage) party’s governing board. A Zharangutyun statement said
its decision on whom to support in the race will be based on their
"frank answers."
Hovannisian’s questionnaire is just as frank, with the election
contenders asked to not only elaborate on their campaign platforms and
favored policies but also to list their "main merits and shortcomings"
and explain "the difference between your and your family’s assets
held now and in 1991." "In your biography, are there any facts (e.g.,
corruption, others deeds punishable by criminal law) that may enable
anyone to influence your decisions?" reads another question. "If so,
please specify."
Some of the questions are specifically addressed to the candidates
who hold or held a government post, notably Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian and former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. Those of them
who seek Hovannisian’s endorsement will have to declare if they ever
jailed innocent people, benefited from vote rigging or committed other
"major mistakes."
Only one of the candidates, Artashes Geghamian of the opposition
National Unity Party, expressed readiness to answer all of the
embarrassing questions. Others found them populist and even offensive.
A spokesman for Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
dismissed the questionnaire as "unacceptable" and "ridiculous." "It
would be much better if every politician began from self-criticism,"
Eduard Sharmazanov told RFE/RL.
The campaign manager of one of Sarkisian’s main challengers, former
parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian, likewise said that Hovannisian
is wrong to claim a moral superiority over the election contenders.
"I think that acting on behalf of the entire public and holding an
examination for the presidential candidates is kind of ludicrous,"
said Heghine Bisharian.
Ter-Petrosian, another top opposition candidate, also made it clear
through an aide that he has no intention to send written answers to
the U.S.-born politician who had served as a foreign minister in his
administration. The Ter-Petrosian campaign chief, Aleksandr Arzumanian,
said Hovannisian can find those answers in the ex-president’s recent
and upcoming speeches.
Arzumanian also told RFE/RL that Hovannisian did not discuss his
questionnaire when he visited Ter-Petrosian on Sunday. The meeting
apparently focused on the possibility of the latter’s endorsement by
the Zharangutyun leader.
Zharangutyun is one of only two opposition parties represented in
Armenia’s parliament, owing to its leader’s popularity. Observers
believe that Hovannisian, who is not eligible to stand in the
presidential election, can therefore influence its outcome.