Robert Kocharian: Everyone must realize that Electoral Code is not
‘frozen’ in pre-election period

2008-02-01 20:35:00

ArmInfo. Everyone must realize that the Electoral Code is not "frozen"
in the pre-election period. On the contrary, on these days law-
enforcement agencies must be stricter in performing of their functions.
This is necessary to avoid extra problems caused by pre-election moods,
Armenian President Robert Kocharian said during his visit to the new
building of RA Defense Ministry, which is under construction. In
particular, the president touched upon the incident, which happened in
Talin town, when supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan beat a person. "The
incident in Talin took place to the view, was shot by several media,
and even if desired, law- enforcement agencies couldn’t turn a blind
eye to it", R. Kocharian said. As for the campaign motor rally in
Yerevan’s center, the authors of which were supporters of the
ex-president, the president emphasized that traffic rules are not
"frozen" either, and they refer to all.

"The matter concerns the incident which took place literally in front
of my eyes at Baghramyan- Demirchyan crossroad. This was real
impudence, and I think that such impudence should be suppressed and
prevented by state bodies properly, and guilty persons should be
punished", the president stressed. He recalled that a "hot line" is
open at the Police and there is a special working group under the
Prosecutor General’s Office. "They will regularly inform the public
about the measures being taken to liquidate the consequences of
incidents", Kocharian said.

One shouldn’t create provocation or yield to provocation, he said. "The
organizers of rallies are also responsible for order during the
rallies, and nobody should forget about this. There are several weeks
left before the election and I am sure that everything will pass
calmly, the state bodies will implement their functions and let nobody
doubt of this", the president emphasized. Speaking of the campaign in
general, he noted that everything is proceeding calmly, "though there
will be various incidents which are characteristic of all pre-electoral
campaigns in other countries, too".