PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.00.03, 27.16.00 (temporary)
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46 (temporary)
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
March 9, 2007
Raffi Hovannisian: The Imperative of Equal Campaign Conditions
Yerevan–The "Friday" Press Club today hosted a news conference of Raffi K.
Hovannisian, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and founder of the
Heritage Party. He was accompanied by Armenia’s first Ombudswoman Larisa
Alaverdian and school principal Anahit Bakhshian, the second and fourth
candidates on Heritage’s proportional list for the upcoming parliamentary
elections.
In his opening statement, Hovannisian focused on the immediate imperative
for equal campaign conditions in all fields. Free, fair, and democratic
elections require, in Hovannisian’s words, the fulfillment of three
conditions: Access to public sites necessary for the exercise of free
assembly; the enforcement of campaign finance limits; and access to print
and broadcast media.
These remarks were delivered to a room full of newspaper reporters and radio
journalists. Television representatives, with the lone exception of Yerkir
Media, were absent, suggesting that, only 63 days before parliamentary
elections, the TV blockade against Heritage is still in force. Letters of
inquiry sent by the party to the prime minister, mayors of all Armenian
cities, directors of billboard associations, and executives of television
networks have received no responses to date.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia,
with email contact at [email protected] and website at