ARMENIAN POLITICIAN SLAMS OPPOSITION’S "SMEAR CAMPAIGN" AGAINST PREMIER
Hayots Ashkharh
Jan 18 2008
Armenia
"There will be more crying during the election campaign"
The servants of [Armenian ex-President and presidential candidate]
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s propaganda guided by smear campaign continue
their disinformation against the candidate from the [ruling] Republican
Party of Armenia [RPA], Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. In response to
our questions, the deputy head of the [Sargsyan] election headquarters
and deputy chairman of the RPA’s board, Galust Sahakyan, speaks about
new products of "creative thought" by propagandists.
[Correspondent] Is it true that evaluating the election campaign,
which has not started yet, and discovering that by their activity
they harm Serzh Sargsyan’s rating, the Republicans have decided to
be less involved in the electioneering in the media?
[Sahakyan] I do not think that there is a sense to have objections
against such senseless "news". Some of our opposition figures have a
syndrome of fear and themselves know very well that their candidate
has no chance of winning [election] using civilized methods of
struggle. That’s why, they try to talk in the language of "fists",
false information and insults.
All our actions are coordinated and we have no problem of going ahead
and campaigning for our candidate.
[Correspondent] "Fresh" information appeared in the mentioned press
that the authorities have been conducting "illegal propaganda" in
favour of Serzh Sargsyan. What would you say about this?
[Sahakyan] I will say the following. Parties are engaged in propaganda,
a party exists for presenting its points of view, its approaches
regarding various issues or a phenomenon, regardless whether elections
are taking place or not. [Passage omitted: Sahakyan speaks about a
provision in Armenia’s Electoral Code banning electioneering before
the official start of election campaign]
They [opposition] are the ones who were the first to violate the
Electoral Code – by staging rallies [presumably means the rallies
organized by supporters of Ter-Petrosyan], disseminating DVDs
[containing the video of the attack in the Armenian Parliament on 27
October 1999], which obviously contain elements of a smear campaign.
From: Baghdasarian