ARMENIAN ELECTION: FORMER PRESIDENT URGES PREMIER TO WITHDRAW FROM RACE

ArmInfo
Feb 16 2008
Armenia

Former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who hopes to regain
the post in the 19 February vote, has called on Prime Minister
Serzh Sargsyan to withdraw from the race to preserve the country’s
"international reputation", Arminfo news agency has reported.

Addressing a mass rally in the capital Yerevan on 16 February,
Ter-Petrosyan said it was the last chance for Sargsyan and the outgoing
president, Robert Kocharyan, to leave with "dignity".

"If Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan had had some conscience,
they would have left the country immediately in view of today’s
unprecedented rally and the all-national celebration," Arminfo quoted
the former president as saying. "This is their last chance to go
with dignity, without subjecting Armenia’s international reputation
to a threat."

Arminfo said some 50,000 people attended the rally.

Ter-Petrosyan warned the authorities against falsifying the election,
saying that a rally planned by his supporters in Yerevan on 20 February
would turn into an open-ended demonstration if the election was rigged.

In a separate address to the nation, carried by Arminfo on 16
February, Ter-Petrosyan urged Armenians to prevent vote-rigging by
a high turnout.

"If you are proactive, we will be able to accomplish what we failed
to do in 1998 and 2003 [presidential elections won by Kocharyan].

This time we will definitely win," Ter-Petrosyan said. "19 February
will mark the victory on the anti-people regime… The bandit state
has already lost, and the people has won."