HOVANNISIAN OPTS FOR ELECTION NEUTRALITY
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 21 2008
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian indicated over the weekend that he
and his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party will not endorse any of Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s four main election challengers before the
first round of voting slated for February 19.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the party’s governing board said it
will decide whom to support "later on" if at least one of them fails
to drop out of the presidential race in favor of another opposition
candidate. It said none of the four candidates, among them former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian, stands a chance of defeating Sarkisian
on his own.
"If participation in the presidential race is an end in itself, rather
than a chance to win for those political forces, maybe we should
wait for the [run-up to the] second round and see who the public
supports the most," the Zharangutyun spokesman, Hovsep Khurshudian,
told RFE/RL. "We will naturally support that force."
"There has to be a consolidation of forces. The mistakes made during
the parliamentary elections must not be repeated," Khurshudian said,
referring to the Armenian opposition’s failure to set up major
alliances in the run-up to the May 2007 vote. The Zharangutyun
statement went further, saying that "appropriate lessons have not
been learned" by the opposition.
Hovannisian himself was accused by some opposition politicians
at the time of scuttling the formation of one such alliance that
would have comprised Zharangutyun, two pro-Ter-Petrosian parties
and the National Democratic Union (AZhM) of Vazgen Manukian, another
presidential candidate. Hovannisian and his allies insist, however,
that they were not to blame for the last-minute collapse of talks
between those opposition groups.
Zharangutyun is one of only two opposition parties represented in
Armenia’s parliament, putting its popular leader, who is not eligible
to run for president, in a position to influence the outcome of the
upcoming election. Ter-Petrosian and Vahan Hovannisian (no relation
to Raffi), the candidate of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), have been particularly active in courting the
U.S.-born politician.
Hovannisian said last month that his choice will depend on candidates’
answers to his 22 written questions that challenged them to not only
elaborate on their campaign platforms but also to list their "main
merits and shortcomings" and disclose their assets. The presidential
hopefuls were also told to specify if they had ever jailed innocent
people, benefited from vote rigging or committed other "deeds
punishable by criminal law."
The Zharangutyun statement complained that "in essence" none of them
has filled out the highly unusual questionnaire. It said Hovannisian
only received a "letter of courtesy" from Ter-Petrosian and "general
reaction" from another opposition contender, Artur Baghdasarian.
Reports in the Armenian press have said that some members of the
Zharangutyun board have been pressing Hovannisian, who returned
to Yerevan last week after spending nearly a month in the United
States, to throw his weight behind Ter-Petrosian. At least three of
Zharangutyun’s seven parliament deputies are known to support the
ex-president’s candidacy.
"I wouldn’t say that those reports are wide of the mark," said
Khurshudian. "Some sections of the board and the party as a whole
do gravitate towards the candidate mentioned by you. But there are
also quite serious sections of the party who support other opposition
candidates."
As a parliamentary force, Zharangutyun is entitled to controlling one
of the eight seats in each of about 2,000 various-level commissions
that will be conducting the February 19 election. According to
Khurshudian, only about 1,000 party members and supporters are
available to sit on those commissions. He said Zharangutyun will
therefore ask other opposition parties to fill the remaining vacancies
with experienced activists.