Aravot, Armenia
Feb 6 2008

Inconsistency: Authorities and opposition change their opinion

by editor-in-chief Aram Abrahamyan

Until recently authorities have considered [leader of the Orinats
Yerkir party and presidential candidate] ArturBaghdasaryan not a bad
lad and directed all their hatred and spite against the first
Armenian president [andpresidential candidate] Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Accidentally, something is not quite clear here: if the
governmentcandidate’s rating is 55 per cent [according to opinion
polls], and Ter-Petrosyan’s one – 5 per cent, thelatter can be
completely forgotten and his statements may not be paid attention to.
However, either the opinion pollsare not trustworthy, or the first
president’s criticism reaches the target and hits hard our
bureaucrats’gentle hearts.

But as soon as it became known that Ter-Petrosyan and Baghdasaryan
may unite, and the Orinats Yerkir party has beenmanaging to conduct
mass rallies, it turned out that the Orinats Yerkir party leader is
not that good. Out of the river of smear aimed at the first
president, a "small spring" was directed at Mr Baghdasaryan. One
more"spring" will run in [leader of the Heritage party and
presidential candidate] Raffi Hovhannisyan’sdirection.

Politics, needless to say, is a cruel thing, and the pre-election
period particularly is not a time for niceties -politicians spare
neither one another’s, nor our [listeners] ears. But politics is not
only a cruel thing, butversatile as well. When Artur Baghdasaryan
acted alone and took away votes from Levon [Ter-Petrosyan], he was
good. Now Baghdasaryan has turned into a bad guy. Likewise, two years
ago [leader of the National Unity party and presidentialcandidate]
Artashes Geghamyan was a politician not favoured by authorities, but
now he is considered a constructiveopposition politician, as he
directed all his talent on Ter-Petrosyan’s criticism. Here is a
conclusion: the first president is the only stable source of
potential danger for these authorities.