Armenian oldtime radicals say constituencies gerrymandered

Text of report by Armenian news agency Snark

Yerevan, 5th May: Most parties and public organizations

standing in the parliamentary elections on 30th May are

pursuing the sole aim of self-advertising. The head of the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD], Vahan

Ovanesyan, who is standing in the elections, said this at a

meeting with reporters today [5th May].

As to the boycott declared by the leader of the 21st

Century Party, ex-national security minister David

Shakhnazaryan, Ovenesyan believed that Shakhnazaryan had no a

moral right to stand in the elections in any form. The ARDF

leader recalled that the death of a prisoner in the "31 case"

was on his [Shakhnazaryan's] conscience. The case was

instituted after the previous authorities had banned the ARDF

in Armenia in late 1994. As known, for this reason

Shakhnazaryan was sacked from the post of the national security

department head. "I think he has pangs of conscience. I also

think that he will not be able to claim a position in the

political elite owing to his over-close links with ex-president

Levon Ter-Petrosyan," the ARFD leader said.

The new division of the republic into constituencies is,

in Ovanesyan's opinion, completely wrong from the territorial

point of view. "One can form the impression that the precincts

were formed on the principle that someone has relatives or

friends somewhere," the ARFD leader said. As to the free and

fair character of the forthcoming elections, in Ovanesyan's

opinion Armenia might again disgrace itself in front of the

West. "Georgia was admitted to the Council of Europe despite

violations during its last elections. Such liberalism does not

threaten us, the maximum will be asked of us. But the greater

danger is that we might disgrace ourselves in front of our own

people. This already happened in [the rigged elections of]

1995, and we witnessed how a parliament elected under barrels

of sub-machine-guns has suddenly changed one of people taking

care of the people's troubles, Ovanesyan said.

Touching upon the disposition of power in the new

parliament, Ovanesyan voiced the opinion that no one political

force would have a majority of seats in it.

In his opinion, the Armenian people is still interested

not only in the timely payment of pensions and allowances but

also in the political situation in the republic. The latter is

still far from being normal, according to Ovanesyan. "Our

people have already seen it all and heard many manifestoes, and

after all that we now have a messed-up country without a

national ideology. I seriously call upon everybody to vote for

the Dashnaktsutyun, and I think that we will be able to justify

the people's trust," the ARFD leader declared.

Source: Snark news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1000 gmt 05 May

99

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