DASHNAK CANDIDATE LAMENTS ‘ARTIFICIAL’ VOTER CHOICE
By Hovannes Shoghikian and Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 4 2008

The candidate of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun)
complained on Monday that many Armenians view the upcoming presidential
election as a two-horse race between their current and former leaders
and could ignore other candidates opposed to both rival camps.

"The people are faced with an artificial choice," Vahan Hovannisian
said during a campaign trip to the southern Armavir region.

"Unhappy with their downtrodden status, the people, especially their
unconscious part, are going to elect the worst, instead of the bad,"
he told voters in Parakar, a village just outside Yerevan. "But who
says that we must make a choice between the bad and the worst? Why
aren’t we making a choice between the good and the bad?"

By "the worst" the deputy speaker of Armenia’s parliament appeared to
mean former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, who had controversially
banned Dashnaktsutyun and jailed some of its leaders, including
Hovannisian, during his rule. Many local commentators regard
Ter-Petrosian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian as the main election
contenders, a view resented by Dashnaktsutyun. The nationalist party,
which is represented in Sarkisian’s cabinet, says its candidate
represents a viable alternative to the two men and political groups
behind them.

Accordingly, Hovannisian has been attacking both camps in his campaign
speeches. He admitted on Monday that the increasingly acrimonious
relationship between the Sarkisian and Ter-Petrosian camps is putting
him in a difficult situation as public criticism of one side could
benefit the other.

Meanwhile, Sarkisian all but wrapped up his election campaign in
Yerevan Monday with rallies held in the city’s two northern suburbs,
Avan and Nor Nork. He assured local residents that Armenia will not
"regress" economically and in terms of human rights if he wins the
February 19 election.

Sarkisian also stressed that he wants to prevail in a free and fair
vote and be seen as a legitimate president. "I need your votes because
I want to be a full-fledged president," he said. "I want the president
of Armenia not to be inferior to the presidents of other countries
in any way."