SARKISIAN STRESSES SECURITY, PROSPERITY ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
By Astghik Bedevian and Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 24 2008
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian campaigned in the southeastern Syunik
region on Thursday, again promising economic betterment and saying
that he would safeguard Armenia’s national security better than any
of his eight election challengers.
"The war [with Azerbaijan] made be a realist, I want to become
president of the republic," Sarkisian told hundreds of people attending
his campaign rally in the regional capital Kapan. His ten-minute
speech there was preceded and followed by a free concert of Armenian
pop starts traveling with the prime minister.
"I want to become president of the republic so that our cities are
not bombarded anymore, so that lights are always on in our homes in
the evening, so that we can turn the victory achieved at the cost of
your sacrifices and heroic acts by your sons and our comrades into a
document," he said in a town that endured cross-border shelling from
nearby Azerbaijani army positions during the 1992-1994 war.
Syunik is the second Armenian province visited by Sarkisian since
the official start of campaigning for the February 19 presidential
election on Monday. He started the campaign in the neighboring Vayots
Dzor region, promising to double household incomes in the country
within five years if he becomes president. This was also a key theme
of his speeches in Kapan and other regional towns.
"I will ensure that none of those who have backed me feels embarrassed
for electing me," the prime minister declared in the main Kapan
square adorned with his massive campaign billboard. "We have all
the possibilities of living at least twice as better in five years
from now."
As was the case during similar rallies staged by Sarkisian’s Republican
Party (HHK) ahead of the May 2007 parliamentary elections, many in
the crowd were teachers of public schools and their students.
Schoolchildren interviewed by RFE/RL claimed that they were ordered
by their teachers to come to the rally after their classes.
Meanwhile, more than 300 kilometers to the north, in the southern
Ararat region, the Sarkisian campaign faced allegations of vote buying
from local residents attending campaign gatherings organized by Artur
Baghdasarian, one of the opposition presidential candidates.
"Serzh Sarkisian said yesterday that those who hand out cash [to
voters] are traitors," a woman, who identified herself as Lena,
told Baghdasarian in the local town of Vedi. "Maybe the presidential
candidate doesn’t know that people are collecting [voters’] passports
on his behalf."
"They go from village to village, from house to house and hand out
cash," she claimed without naming names.
Vote buying has grown widespread in Armenia over the past decade. The
HHK and other pro-government parties were accused by their opponents of
heavily relying to the illegal practice during the 2007 parliamentary
polls. They both strongly denied such accusations.
"I must say that all those village mayors and other individuals who
commit electoral crimes will be strictly punished by law," Baghdasarian
told voters in Vedi. He also deplored what he called an atmosphere
of fear reigning in Ararat.
Much of the fruit-growing region is widely regarded as the de facto
fiefdom of the influential Deputy Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian,
who is also Sarkisian’s campaign manager.