HEAD OF STAFF OF THE CANDIDATE FOR THE POSITION OF THE ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SUSPECTS THAT THE AUTHORITIES ARE GOING TO USE "ADDITIONAL PASSPORTS" DURING THE ELECTIONS
Mediamax
January 16, 2008
Yerevan /Mediamax/. Candidate for the position of the Armenian
President, Leader of "Orinats Yerkir" Party (OYP) Artur Baghdasarian
will enter the upcoming presidential elections of February 19 with
the slogans "New Armenia" and "Armenia, open your eyes".
As the Head of Baghdasarian’s pre-election headquarter, Secretary of
the parliamentary faction of OYP Heghine Bisharian stated in Yerevan
today, "a few hundreds of pre-election offices are formed all over
the country, 10 thousand civil assistance groups are functioning".
Public reception and a legal advice service function in the
pre-election headquarter of Artur Baghdasarian. The OYP Leader will
present his pre-election program on January 21.
Heghine Bisharian expressed concern in connection with the fact that
the regional TV-Companies, under the pressure of the authorities,
strongly refuse to provide broadcasting time to the oppositional
figures, even based on chargeable broadcasting rules. She is not
content by the time of the pre-election agitation on the Public TV,
which starts on January 21.
"At 17:00, when the speeches of the candidates start, many citizens
will still be at work and will not be able to watch those programs",
Bisharian stated.
Head of the pre-election headquarter of Artur Baghdasarian informed
on the striving of the local governing bodies to secure the victory
of the candidate from the ruling party by means of pressure on the
electorate, garbling with the list of electors and "use of additional
passports, as it happened during the parliamentary elections of 2007".
"I noticed that in the budget of 2008, 170mln drams is allocated for
issuing passports, and this gives me grounds to express suspicion
concerning the continuation of an operation with passports during
these elections as well", Bisharian stated.
"It is impossible to conclude the presidential elections of February 19
in a single round, and Artur Baghdasarian has all the chances to both
enter the second round and win during the elections", she stressed.