ARMENPRESS
PRIME MINISTER UNDERSCORES FINDINGS OF PUBLIC OPINION
SURVEYS
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister
Serzh Sarkisian underscored today the findings of a
series of public opinion polls conducted in Armenia by
leading research and polling centers, including the
Gallup organization, saying, however, that these
findings are important in terms of giving an
opportunity to specify popular feelings and revising
the main directions of the work and being more
attentive towards issues of greater social concern and
interest.
He said the findings which, by the way, place him
atop the list of presidential contenders with a huge
lead, should be approached from this perspective.
`I am greatly thankful to all those organizations
which commission these polls and provide us with very
valuable information,’ Sarkisian said.
Serzh Sarkisian was also asked by journalists to
comment on deputy parliament speaker Vahan
Hovhanesian’s arguments that the prime minister is not
as popular as is claimed by pollsters.
`I have no reasons to doubt what Vahan Hovhanesian
says. I am sure that he does not trust these findings.
Otherwise he would have walked out of the presidential
race or would have mitigated his tough stance,’
Sarkisian said.
`Everyone is free not to trust the findings of
these surveys, they can tell fairy tales that Serzh
Sarkisian bribed these centers for placing him at the
forefront, but this would not affect either the
science that deals with public opinion polls and will
not affect experts who do not take these claims
seriously,’ Sarkisian added.
He reminded that the latest poll by the Gallup was
commissioned by the U.S. International Republican
Institute (IRI) and paid by the USAID.
The prime minister also declined allegations by the
former ruling Armenian National Movement (ANM) that he
has taken huge sums of money from the Central Bank’s
reserves to pay election bribes.
Sarkisian said every person who knows a thing of
two about what Central Bank’s reserve is will say that
this allegation is simply absurd.
Sarkisian said,’ In the time span before February
19 election we are going to hear things that no one
could even imagine in nightmares. In all likelihood,
this is what the ANM thinks of this country. I would
not like to even comment on such allegations,’ he
said.