PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA: ARMENIAN MIRROR SPECTATOR ENDORSES SERGE SARGSIAN

AZG Armenian Daily
06/02/2008

"Armenian Mirror Spectator that is the press organ of Democratic
Liberal Party (Ramkavars) of East America and Canada supports Serge
Sargsian’s candidacy", is written in the official announcement of
the party sent to "Azg" daily that we present below:

"On February 19, 2008, Armenia will elect its third president since
its independence of 1991.

There are nine candidates running, from the former first president
of the republic, Levon Ter-Petrosian, to the current Prime Minister,
Serge Sargsian.If Sargsian is elected, who is current President Robert
Kocharian’s, political protege that would mean the continuation of
the policies started by Kocharian? The current president was first
elected in 1998, and then re-elected in 2003.

The majority of Armenian organizations, both in Armenia and in
the diaspora, including the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, support the
candidacy of Sargsian, not because he is a perfect candidate, but
because he will continue the diplomatic success in foreign policy,
economic growth and prosperity that Armenia has enjoyed during the
10 years of Kocharian.

Among his administration’s successes are:

* Armenia is the only country in the region, even in the world,
which has positive and good relations with Iran and Russia, as well
as the US and European countries.In 2007 alone, Armenia registered an
economic growth of 13.8 percent. Exports increased by 38.7 percent,
not including diamond production.

Imports increased by 58.4 percent.In 2007, the average monthly medium
wages were 77,000 Armenian drams ($257), an increase of 20.4 percent
compared with 2006.

* Foreign investments in Armenia were $600 million in 2007. According
to official statistics, the volume of investments in the first nine
months of 2007 rose 58 percent from the year 2006. The bulk of 2007
investments were in mining, telecommunications, information technology
and aviation. The largest foreign investors were Russia ($176 million),
Lebanon ($134 million), Argentina ($25 million), the US ($21 million)
and Germany ($20 million).

* Investments in Armenia’s IT sector last year amounted to $10
million. The sector reported a 30 percent growth.

* According to preliminary figures, about 480,000 tourists visited
Armenia in 2007, spending $410 million in the country, a $110 million
increase from 2006.

* Armenia implemented the US Congress-approved Millennium Challenge
Account grant of $250 million to built infrastructures in rural
villages. Sargsian is committed in reducing the poverty in Armenia,
focusing on economic development and implementation of special programs
in various regions of Armenia. The strategy is expected to reduce
extreme poverty from the current 26.5 percent to 6 percent by 2021.

* Prime Minister Sargsian, who was formerly the nation’s defense
minister for nine years, increased the number of the Armenian Army and
in cooperation with Russia, the United States and the European Union,
acquired military hardware, including planes, tanks and technology.

* The foreign policies of Armenia have kept the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic intact for 15 years. Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian,
who resigned in 1998 over his Karabakh policies, still persists that
Armenia does not need to keep a strong army and that Karabakh should
relinquish its territories to Azerbaijan.

* Armenia privatized the Medzamor nuclear plant and sold it to Russia,
and in 2007, signed an agreement with the United States to build a
second plant there.

Upon the completion of the second plant, Medzamor would be dismantled.

* Armenia privatized the Armenian Railways, again selling them to the
Russian giant CJSC.Again, we stress that the candidate we are endorsing
is not perfect. In fact, the election process in Armenia has not been
so perfect since it first gained independence. However, we believe that
he has the strength to continue many of the gains that Armenia has
made in a very volatile region. None of the newly-independent former
USSR states have achieved anything close to perfectly transparent
elections, but we need to believe that Armenia will realize its full
potential in the coming decade. And truth be told, we in the US cannot
be judges of fairness in elections, considering all the skullduggery
of several recent elections.

The message of hope given by Sargsian is therefore preferable to the
symphony of doom played by Ter-Petrosian, a man who had once lost hope
and preferred to leave his office rather than galvanize his citizens".