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"THE OPPOSITION HAS NEVER BEEN SO DISCREDITED"
[06:17 pm] 08 September, 2006
"I have been in the political field for such a long time but there
are things I don’t understand as they are beyond any logic", sincerely
confessed head of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh Kocharyan in
"Pastark" club. What he meant as beyond any logic was the behavior
of the opposition in connection with the Electoral Code.
According to Mr. Kocharyan, for the first time there is a chance to end
anarchy at the Constitution level, but the inner political situation in
the country does not allow it. "It is very dangerous to stay where you
are. Only a few of the CoE member countries have failed to organize
fair elections. These are Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is
meaningless to speak about democracy without free and fair elections".
Mr. Kocharyan considers the steps of the authorities simple and
natural. "In this kind of countries the authorities think about
reproduction. There are three factors with the help of which the
obstacle of free elections can be overcome – people, opposition and
international structures. During the whole period of independence
the Armenian opposition has never been so discredited".
Mr. Kocharyan considers it illogical that the NA opposition did
not sign under the amendments to the Electoral Code which had been
reached by struggle and signed under a draft which does not represent
significant changes. "Moreover, they sign it the case when there is
another draft processed by the NDP which takes into account their
demands".
The NDP and the NGO "Democracy" have processed a joint program of
controlling the electoral process which could be financed by the
US State Department, but it wasn’t because of the inactivity or
indifference of the opposition. According to Mr. Kocharyan, today the
opposition does not think about the results of the coming elections;
its representatives compete in announcing about revolution and
other things.
Irregardless of all the circumstances, as Mr.
Kocharyan informed, the NDP will participate in the Parliamentary
elections. "Nevertheless, we will not exclude the possibility of
cooperation with other power".
At the end of the news conference Mr. Kocharyan referred to the murder
of Shahen Hovasapyan, "He was killed by people for whose sake Shahen
Hovasapyan was ready to give his life", he stated without going into
further details.