Armenian president pledges orderly elections  

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has held a meeting with
government ministers and security chiefs to discuss their role
in ensuring "legal, fair and free" parliamentary elections on
30th May. He gave an overall positive assessment of the
election campaign so far, adding that a crucial time was still
to come when passions could flare up on the eve of polling day.
Kocharyan pledged that any violations of the law and attempts
at ballot rigging would be duly punished by the courts. The
following is excerpt from report by Armenian news agency Snark
on 26th May//

Yerevan, 26th May: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan held a
meeting today with the participation of Minister of Internal
Affairs and National Security Serzh Sarkisyan,
Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan, Justice Minister David
Arutyunyan, Energy Minister Meruzhan Mikaelyan, chairman of
Central Electoral Commission [CEC] Artak Sayradyan, as well as
deputy ministers of internal affairs and national security,
chiefs of district departments of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and National Security and district prosecutors. The
theme of the meeting was the forthcoming parliamentary
elections on 30th May. The purpose was to discuss the state
bodies' activities in conducting legal, free and fair
elections, the presidential press service told Snark news
agency.

Under the Armenian Constitution, the president of the
country is the guarantor of legitimacy and ensures normal
activity in the different branches of power. "You are those
state bodies through which I have to implement this activity,"
Robert Kocharyan said, addressing those present. He said that
in particular, great responsibility is incumbent upon the law
enforcement bodies.

The president believes the course of the election campaign
and general atmosphere is favorable. Despite problems arising
in certain electoral precincts, he believes that the overall
process under way is positive. At the same time Kocharyan noted
that the most crucial time was coming up in connection with
polling day and the flaring up of passions on the eve of the
elections. Noting the significance of evaluating the elections
by the people and observers, the president underlined: "All the
conditions exist for conducting exemplary polls. We will be
able to maintain legitimacy and order in the country on 30th
May."

Addressing the participants of the meeting, Kocharyan
said: "I am sure that nobody knows better than you who is able
to do what, where. You know best who is involved in the
election campaign and which headquarters. Our approach is
unambiguous: infringers of law and order will not be forgiven
and they will be punished with the full force of the law. Any
pressure on the courts is ruled out. People should understand
that if they try to falsify the elections, their case will be
referred to the court and they will be duly punished."
The president called on the meeting participants to speak
out if they doubted their monitoring of the situation or if
there were candidates and leaders of headquarters in precincts
whom they could not call to order. "You have to say so today.
We must have leaders in place who can preserve legitimacy and
uphold the law. Any alarming signals must not be overlooked.
All cases must be investigated, there must be no exceptions, no
inviolable persons. Only one main task exists - to organize
legal elections, and we are responsible for their
implementation."

Kocharyan said that opportunities would also be created
for journalists to respond swiftly to events, to arrive quickly
at the scene of controversial incidents and cover the voting as
a whole. "This is obviously one of the best guarantees."
He also noted that he had tried to study incidents which
had occurred during the last elections - cutting off the power
supply, seizure of ballot boxes, etc. Noting that the heads of
the power networks would be responsible for these cases,
president proposed establishing specific monitoring in this
regard. In this connection, the energy minister said that an
electricity backup system had been put in place in all
electoral precincts.

[Passage omitted: President appreciated whole election
atmosphere positively.]
Source: Snark news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1410 gmt 26 May 99
BBC Mon TCU 270599 cal/vz