“Haykakan Zhamanak” reads the call for opposition consolidation made by Zharangutyun (Heritage) party leader Raffi Hovannisian as an attempt to secure his own future as a single presidential candidate in the next election.
“If we translate the political language of the statement in which Raffi Hovannisian urges the Armenian National Congress, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktstutyun) and his own party to consolidate under one banner and work towards a leadership change, we will get the following picture: Hovannisian suggests that these forces should already now start preparing for the next presidential election picking him as a single candidate,” speculates “Haykakan Zhamanak”. The paper adds: “Zharangutyun does not want pre-term elections, because its leader, Hovannisian, has not yet been a citizen of Armenia for 10 years, which is a requirement for a presidential candidate… In fact Zharangutyun fears that in the event of a pre-term presidential election the political field will be reshaped so that conditions will be unfavorable for them.”
In an interview with “Hayots Ashkhar”, a governing coalition representative to the already defunct Fact-Finding Group of Experts conducting a probe into last year’s post-election clashes makes a case against linking the general amnesty to the “foiled coup attempt on March 1, 2008” which he claims will mean “politicizing” the amnesty.
Robert Avakian, in particular, says: “If the general amnesty is declared with this formulation, I am sure the consequences will be negative rather than positive. At least, I don’t remember any precedent when a general amnesty was tied to one separate event or was passed for the purpose of releasing separate individuals. An amnesty can apply to crimes that posed a low-degree danger to society. I don’t think that what happened on March 1-2, 2008 was a low degree of danger to society.”
“Hraparak” speculates that President Serzh Sarkisian has received the worst evaluation of his activities typical to those given to the leaders of such rogue regimes as North Korea or Belarus…
“With his consistent activities of rigging elections, covering up criminals and thus bearing responsibility for killings, Sarkisian has found himself in an abyss from which he will never be able to climb out. The force of the evaluation of “not compatible with democracy” is that as a result of it all other financial allocations to Armenia will be reduced.”
“Aravot” quotes Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian as telling Russian media in Moscow that “the situation in Armenia has greatly stabilized after the municipal elections in capital Yerevan.” Among the stabilization factors listed by the premier, according to the daily, are “a positive assessment given by international observers” and “fewer votes gained by the opposition in Yerevan during the municipal polls than during [last year’s] presidential election.”
“Perfection has no limits and the situation can be stabilized even more greatly,” “Aravot” writes sardonically in its editorial. “For example, [you can] arrest another hundred people or pass a law before the elections that only coalition supporters are eligible to vote and for all others approaching a polling station is a crime.”
“Iravunk” asked the secretary of the ruling Republican Party’s parliamentary faction to comment on the criticism of Armenia’s human rights record and democratic practices voiced in the latest report of the U.S. Department of State.
Edward Sharmazanov said to the paper: “Sharing a certain concern connected with [the developments of] 2008, I still think that consistent work has been done and still will be done in Armenia towards carrying out democratic reforms. It is obvious that there isn’t a single field where progress has not been made – ranging from the electoral process to media freedom. I will only mention that a democratic reform cannot be carried out overnight and that it requires continuous work – something that is being done under the leadership of the republic’s president.”
In an interview with “Hayots Ashkhar”, a governing coalition representative to the already defunct Fact-Finding Group of Experts conducting a probe into last year’s post-election clashes makes a case against linking the general amnesty to the “foiled coup attempt on March 1, 2008” which he claims will mean “politicizing” the amnesty.
Robert Avakian, in particular, says: “If the general amnesty is declared with this formulation, I am sure the consequences will be negative rather than positive. At least, I don’t remember any precedent when a general amnesty was tied to one separate event or was passed for the purpose of releasing separate individuals. An amnesty can apply to crimes that posed a low-degree danger to society. I don’t think that what happened on March 1-2, 2008 was a low degree of danger to society.”
“Hraparak” speculates that President Serzh Sarkisian has received the worst evaluation of his activities typical to those given to the leaders of such rogue regimes as North Korea or Belarus…
“With his consistent activities of rigging elections, covering up criminals and thus bearing responsibility for killings, Sarkisian has found himself in an abyss from which he will never be able to climb out. The force of the evaluation of “not compatible with democracy” is that as a result of it all other financial allocations to Armenia will be reduced.”
“Aravot” quotes Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian as telling Russian media in Moscow that “the situation in Armenia has greatly stabilized after the municipal elections in capital Yerevan.” Among the stabilization factors listed by the premier, according to the daily, are “a positive assessment given by international observers” and “fewer votes gained by the opposition in Yerevan during the municipal polls than during [last year’s] presidential election.”
“Perfection has no limits and the situation can be stabilized even more greatly,” “Aravot” writes sardonically in its editorial. “For example, [you can] arrest another hundred people or pass a law before the elections that only coalition supporters are eligible to vote and for all others approaching a polling station is a crime.”
“Iravunk” asked the secretary of the ruling Republican Party’s parliamentary faction to comment on the criticism of Armenia’s human rights record and democratic practices voiced in the latest report of the U.S. Department of State.
Edward Sharmazanov said to the paper: “Sharing a certain concern connected with [the developments of] 2008, I still think that consistent work has been done and still will be done in Armenia towards carrying out democratic reforms. It is obvious that there isn’t a single field where progress has not been made – ranging from the electoral process to media freedom. I will only mention that a democratic reform cannot be carried out overnight and that it requires continuous work – something that is being done under the leadership of the republic’s president.”