Lragir, Armenia
Dec 27 2007
VAZGEN MANUKYAN DISBELIEVES GALLUP
Another presidential candidate, the leader of the National Democratic
Union Vazgen Manukyan says to disbelieve the results of public polls
that are released. He said in a news conference on December 27 he
disbelieves the polls by the Gallup Institute and other polls which
give a 30 percent popular rating to Serge Sargsyan. The leader of the
NDU says the society in Armenia is afraid of expressing an opinion
openly.
The leader of the NDU said he has hired a group to conduct a poll to
have a real picture of public opinion and adjust his tactics. `At the
same time, our party conducts telephone polls. We do not release the
results. We do not release because others may disbelieve the
results,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.
He disbelieves the mechanism of measuring rating through the number
of people attending the rallies. Vazgen Manukyan says they have an
experience of rallies since 1988 and those rallies have gathered
different numbers of people. `We never measure political strength
through rallies. For instance, in 1996 there was a proposal to hold
rallies at the Square of Freedom and have the surge of protest affect
entire Armenia where people want to repeat what they saw in 1988. I
refused categorically,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.
According to him, the technology of rallies should not be abused. He
gives the example of Arkady Vardanyan who held a great rally, and the
government used force, arrested him, although it seemed that 10, 20
or 30 thousand people participated in the rally but it did not make
Arkady Vardanyan influential.