TER-PETROSIAN SEEKS RURAL VOTE
By Gayane Mkrtchian in Gegharkunik (CRS No. 430 06-Feb-08)
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Feb 6 2008
Socially disadvantaged region gets behind Armenian opposition candidate
pledging to deal with their problems.
The Gegharkunk region bordering Lake Sevan is in the grip of a winter
freeze, wrapped in a white shroud of snow – but the sleepy calm
is being broken by an unusually impassioned presidential election
campaign.
The villagers here say that it is good that presidential elections are
held every five years and they are visited by the competing candidates,
otherwise they would be entirely forgotten. On February 3, former
president and current presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian
toured the region.
The regional centre of Tsovagyukh, 150 kilometres from Yerevan,
was bustling. Even before Ter-Petrosian arrived, around a fifth of
the 5,000 inhabitants had gathered to meet him. Women wrapped in
headscarves had assembled separately from the men by the entrance of
the only shop.
Vard Gazarian, a mother of six children and a teacher, said that life
was very tough here. In early spring, the men all went abroad to find
work and came back only at the end of autumn.
"What kind of life is that?" she asked. "A bit here, a bit there. We
are all disillusioned but we are expecting something from these
elections, hoping that they can change at least something.
"The people of our village will vote mainly for the opposition
candidates – for Levon Ter-Petrosian or Artur Baghdasarian. Our leaders
have not lifted a finger to help the people, who will vote for them?"
Both Ter-Petrosian, who was independent Armenia’s first president
from 1991 to 1998, and former speaker of parliament Baghdasarian
are mounting a strong challenge to the official candidate and prime
minister, Serzh Sarkisian, who remains the favourite in the February
19 poll. If none of the nine candidates gains more than 50 per cent
of the vote, a second round of voting will be held two weeks later.
In Tsovagyukh, the villagers held placards saying "We will win" and
"Tsovagyukh for you". Ter-Petrosian was met with the traditional
bread and salt, a gesture of hospitality. Then began the speeches,
interrupted by shouts of "Victory, victory!"
Ter-Petrosian told the crowd, "Neither in the city nor in the regions
do I see a single vote for Serzh Sarkisian. As this is the case,
what are they counting on? He is relying on the state machine, on
money and falsifying the elections. All the people are against him,
even the state apparatus, the ministries, police."
Ter-Petrosian promised that, if re-elected, he will receive a
delegation from the village and discuss their problems and in
particular the privatisation of the shoreline of Armenia’s biggest
and most famous lake, Lake Sevan.
"I know about the problems of your region, even about the problems of
your village," he said. "It is the lake, fish, the beaches that don’t
belong to you any more. The whole shoreline has been privatised. The
day will come and you won’t even be able to walk down to the shore
at all."
People’s complaints were predominantly about socio-economic problems.
Hrachik Vardanian protested that there were no jobs in the village
and no equipment to maintain the soil. He said the last three years
have been especially hard and villagers have started to leave and
take their families with them.
"I think many people have come with good intentions to listen to the
candidate, regardless of whom they will vote for," said Vardanian.
"There is no atmosphere of fear in the village. Everyone will vote
according to his conscience."
Ter-Petrosian’s campaign bandwagon then moved on to the next village,
Lchashen. Even though there are nine candidates, you can see only one
poster – for the official candidate, Sarkisian. Only when Ter-Petrosian
himself arrived did placards of the opposition candidate appear.
In Lchshen, the local men looked downcast, unconvinced that the
elections will change their lives.
Ter-Petrosian and his team tried to persuade the villagers to vote.
"Give us your votes and we will stand up for you. Gorbachev could
not stop us [in the pre-independence years of 1988-91] so how can
these two pathetic personalities," he said in reference to serving
president Robert Kocharian and his close ally Sarkisian.
The men of the village appeared to support the opposition.
"For ten years in a row I’ve gone to work in Russia to support my
family," said Levon Azizian. "Why should I be far away from my wife
and children. I don’t need a country like this. I need a country
where I can stay with my family."
One of the men told the others why they should reject criticism of
Ter-Petrosian. "They say that during Levon’s time there was no power
and people went hungry," he said. "But they should think about the
fact that these were the years of war. And how did we win in that
war? Everyone should ask himself this question and answer it."
The next stop was the town of Sevan where almost 2,000 people had
gathered. Local people said that the mayor, Gevorg Malkhasian,
had warned people and especially those who worked for the local
administration not to turn out for the rally.
"But look how many people have turned out," said Lala Margarian.
"People are already tired of being afraid, they want positive changes."
Those who attend the rally speculated as to whether there will be an
attempt by the authorities to rig the vote.
Aram Sarkisian, head of the Republic Party and a supporter of
Ter-Petrosian, claimed that mayors and village heads were being
called to the president’s office and told to secure the right number
of votes for Sarkisian.
Ter-Petrosian told the people of Sevan to take part in the election
and to make sure that there are no irregularities, urging men to keep
a close eye on the voting. "If there will be 100-200 people by every
polling station then no one will dare to falsify the vote," he said.
Gayane Mkrtchian is a reporter with ArmeniaNow.com in Yerevan.