The Armenian women's party Shamiram is standing in the 30th
may parliamentary elections on its own, and only in the party
list. Party leader Shoger Matevosyan said she didn't think
society was ready to make a fundamental choice at the elections
. The following is the text of report by Armenian news agency
Noyan Tapan on 13th May//
Yerevan, 12th May: The Shamiram public and political
organization, which appeared on the political scene on the eve
of the parliamentary elections of 1995 in Armenia, at present
is also taking part in the elections, although its members are
confident that society is not ready to make the right choice
and "is selling its votes today", the chairwoman of the
organization and MP, Shoger Matevosyan, said.
At a meeting on 12th May within the Takar programme
broadcast on the Hay FM 105.5 radio station, Matevosyan, having
noted the importance of civil society and considering it an
obligatory factor, expressed her confidence that now is that
moment, when each voter should be responsible for the elections
and should determine his future, irrespective of whether he
wants it personally or not.
The observations of Matevosyan allowed her to forecast
that the composition of the parliament, which would be formed
on the basis of the results of elections on 30th May, would be
"not comforting." Shamiram is standing in the elections alone
without uniting with any organization because it "has its own
way."
Touching on party's key programme theses, Matevosyan noted
the importance of steps directed at elaboration of precise
mechanisms for electing the three branches of power and their
recall. In case of being elected, the party will attempt to
implement these theses because it is confident that all the
branches of power should be responsible to society. Shamiram is
not confident that it will be able to get through the
five-per-cent barrier, but considers that, by participating in
the elections, it can obtain more complete information about
the election process. Shamiram is taking part only in the
proportional system elections and the party list, which is
headed by Matevosyan, has 11 candidates.
Matevosyan considered it natural and normal that Shamiram
was supported in 1995 because it is an organization of women.
But now, she said, some political forces are suffering from the
"shamiramism syndrome." Matevosyan considers that if women need
it, men have to overcome their financial and other difficulties
independently, and not wait for support.
Asked by journalists, Matevosyan also touched on the
detention of the APNM [Armenian Pan-National Movement]
chairman, Vano Siradegyan, and the resignation of Armenian
ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Matevosyan attributed
Siradegyan's arrest and the racket around it to the
"politically incorrect approach of the authorities", and
Ter-Petrosyan's resignation, she pointed out, was conditioned
not by the people's demand but by a struggle inside the power
structures. Matevosyan is confident that Ter-Petrosyan resigned
in order to avoid a major deterioration of the situation.
However, she thinks that at present the situation in Armenia
"is continuing to be strained - in a velvety way."
Source: Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 0500 gmt
13 May 99
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