HERITAGE STATEMENT
Lragir
21:12:33 – 29/02/2008
The Armenian presidential elections, held on February 19, 2008, became
the culmination point for the most severe violations of the law that
were ever committed throughout the tenure of today’s authorities and,
within the short track record of our independent statehood, they
turned into a new and a deep sore inside the souls of the country’s
freedom-loving people.
While carrying out their societal and civic duties and an
official commitment on the day of the elections, numerous
Armenian citizens-among them three members of the Heritage Party’s
parliamentary group, many members of election commissions, journalists
from independent news media, proxies of opposition candidates, and
ordinary voters-became the targets of countless assaults, and their
right to make a political choice was violated in a variety ways.
The incumbent authorities responded to the people’s post-election
resistance-waged against voting fraud and law infringements-by
means of one-sided and biased propaganda disseminated by the media
which are under their control and subsequently through the patent
politically motivated arrests. We confirm, with deep regret, that
the number of political prisoners in Armenia has grown and reached
alarming dimensions.
Another matter of concern is the fact that on the day following the
elections, the members of the OSCE/PACE observation mission attempted
in their turn to legitimize, with a preliminary announcement, the
results that were made public by the Central Election Commission which
has silently encouraged the permissiveness carried out under the guise
of "presidential elections" and which has practically coordinated the
entire process of voting abuse. With its announcement, the aforesaid
mission has deepened the Armenian public’s distrust not solely toward
the electoral process, but also toward the international community
and the progressive international associations, which now are gearing
double standards for the second year in a row.
Heritage has exerted great efforts to create, by way of legislative
improvements, favorable preconditions for conducting free and fair
elections, to secure political union and national unity in the
preelection season, to endorse the rule of law at the election
commissions, and to launch public oversight on the day of the
elections. Unfortunately, the authorities, which have violated the
rights and freedoms of Armenian citizens, yet again are attempting
to crush their own people.
Heritage hereby demands from the ruling powers to put an end to the
political pursuits and to refrain from the use of force against the
peaceful civic gatherings.
During this crucial turning point at Armenia’s history, each and every
political force, which senses its responsibility for this situation
and is capable of proposing avenues for resolving it with dignity,
must review its course comprehensively and commence a public-wide
dialogue for the sake of the country’s future. One such review could be
a just verdict handed down by the Constitutional Court with respect to
the petitions filed by the former presidential candidates. Heritage
expects the court to examine these petitions by acknowledging its
accountability before Armenia’s future and honoring the letter and
spirit of the law, and to carry out an all-inclusive and a thorough
examination of the petitions. The quantity and type of the election
fraud and numerous other violations that occurred in and nearby the
voting precincts on the day of the elections, as well as the shameful
incidents that took place while the ballots were being tallied,
indubitably bespeak their systemic nature, and this reality has caused
a broad public distrust toward the elections and specifically toward
the official voting results. We are full of hope that an impartial
decision by the Constitutional Court would pave for Armenia the way
leading to legitimacy, democracy, and civil rights.
Heritage assures that it will always stand alongside the people and
the truth, and, by defending the fundamental precepts of Armenia’s
statehood, it will never back down from its political position as a
systemic opposition.
We therefore call on our members, supporters, and those
citizens who await our say to not succumb to illegality and
injustice, to steadfastly go forward and thus to exercise their
constitutionally-protected rights.