Lragir, Armenia
Dec 26 2007

OYP OFFERS A PROPOSAL TO ALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Who will Arthur Baghdasaryan support in the second round of the
election or whom he will not support if he loses the first round of
the election, the reporters asked the leader of the Orinats Yerkir
Party Arthur Baghdasaryan in a news conference on December 26 when he
said they think there will be a second round, despite the statements
of the government.

Arthur Baghdasaryan said they are not discussing the option of losing
the first round and supporting another candidate in the second round.
`Even the sham polls which are used to hide the truth rank the
Orinats Yerkir two. Naturally, we do not react to an option which is
not under consideration, because it is not true for our supporters,
for all those people who follow us, and they count hundreds of
thousands. Naturally, we were and we remain opposition, we are for
the consolidation of healthy forces, and time is a fair judge, and
will prove the justification, truth and consistency of the stance of
each of us,’ Arthur Baghdasaryan says.

As to polls, Arthur Baghdasaryan thinks they are false and are meant
to wash the brains of the society. There are some reservations
regarding the poll by the Gallup Institute which suggests that the
leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party ranks two after Serge Sargsyan.
`The Gallup Institute, in this case the American Republican
Institute, orders the poll. The poll is conducted by Gevorg Poghosyan
we all know and the Armenian Sociological Association he leads. I
would like to tell you that these polls are conducted at homes of
respondents. According to the polls by Gallup, over 60 percent of
people are afraid. Imagine they call in on people 60 percent of which
are afraid and ask who they would vote for. Naturally, most people
cannot tell the truth, because most mayors of villages are
propagating the ruling party. Moreover, every mayor is obliged to
assure a given number of votes. And no community member wants to have
a conflict with the mayor of the community. The same is with
condominiums,’ Arthur Baghdasaryan says.

Therefore, he says the polls by the Gallup Institute cannot be
reliable because nobody guarantees their confidentiality. Gallup is
also aware of this. Nevertheless, according to Arthur Baghdasaryan,
the results of polls by the Gallup Institute are more reliable than
by other sociological organizations. As to public polls, the Orinats
Yerkir Party offers a proposal to all the candidates. `We propose all
the presidential candidates to shape groups of 2-3 professional
pollsters and conduct a real public poll, with reporters,
professional quota, and this group will conduct a poll and release
the results, and the reliability of these results should be known to
everyone. We have voiced concern with the Gallup Institute, and they
promised to make efforts to guarantee the anonymity of respondents,’
Arthur Baghdasaryan says.

At the same time, however, Arthur Baghdasaryan says the climate of
intimidation seems to have become milder, and evidence to this is
that more people go to rallies in Yerevan despite the pressure of the
government to prevent people from participating in rallies. Arthur
Baghdasaryan thinks violence expresses the fear of the government,
saying that a government with such a high rating would not use the
administrative resource to this degree. Meanwhile, according to the
presidential candidate Arthur Baghdasaryan, without fear in
government and among people there would be a society of free citizens
who would elect a president.