Author: Badalian Vardan

V.SAFARYAN: COMMUNISTS HAVE A WORD TO SAY IN PARLIAMENT

Panorama.am
11/04/2012

“Taking into consideration that we participate in parliamentary
elections for the first time we get ready with great responsibility
for them, and we have something new to tell the people,” said Ashot
Yeranosyan, representative of “United Armenians” party, during the
debate organized by “Civilitas” Foundation. He mentioned that they will
have meetings in regions though they know their electorate quite well.

Vazgen Safaryan who is included in the proportional list of the
Communist Party said that they have decided to take part in the
elections, given the current situation – realizing the moment and
feeling responsible before the people. “The ideological fight is
insufficient in the parliament today and the communists have something
to tell there. We have a word to say and to pass our current ideas
to the people,” he said.

TENS OF ARMENIAN NGOS TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAMS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONDUCT OF DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
Alisa Gevorgyan

“Radiolur”
11.04.2012 17:02

The Partnership for Open Society presented the list of the programs
financed or co-financed by international donor organizations, which
are targeted at contributing to the conduct of democratic elections
in Armenia.

According to Larisa Minasyan, Executive Director of the Partnership
for Open Society, the program provides an opportunity to reveal the
potential existing in the sphere and opens perspectives for future
cooperation between the participating organizations.

In the pre-election period tens of Armenian NGOs will implement
different programs with application of different mechanisms, which
will, however, serve a single objective of holding democratic elections
in the country.

Thus, the Transparency International anti-Corruption center will
implement the “Election postmen” program, which aims at raising the
interest of the citizens towards electoral processes and encouraging
their participation in the shaping of the civil agenda, at the same
time raising the accountability of the political parties before
the electorate.

The “Protection of Rights without Borders NGO suggests legal consulting
in the election period. It will try to strengthen the legal mechanisms
of control of electoral processes.

THE LAST REFUGE OF LEADERS
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:15:51 – 11/04/2012

The April 11 meeting of the joint election monitoring headquarters
had some unexpected developments. The vice president of Heritage
Party Ruben Hakobyan proposed that the agreement on constituting the
headquarters be signed by the leaders of the parties, as well as create
a commission to deal with election bribes in the guise of charity.

Heritage proposal was refused. Vartan Oskanian, Prosperous Armenia,
said he does not think the party leaders should necessarily sign.

Levon Zurabyan, Armenian National Congress, noted that if they
participate in the meeting, it means they are authorized.

This is a little strange since agreements between states are signed
by different officials, such as foreign ministers who are certainly
authorized by their president.

Four political parties are not a state but they have assumed a very
important and useful mission for the state – to monitor the forthcoming
parliamentary elections. For maximum legitimacy and responsibility
of this mission, the signing of the agreement by the party leaders
is logical.

Let the leaders of four parties publicly assume responsibility for
the headquarters, then authorize their delegates to take part in
current activities and discuss the mechanisms of control.

Why do some party leaders refuse to sign the agreement and raise the
status of the headquarters? Do they think that the joint headquarters
is just part of their plan and is not a means of controlling the
legitimacy of the elections? Hence, it is logical that the political
leaders avoid signing the agreement personally to avoid further
responsibility and to be able to maneuver when the party starts making
donations or offering election bribes, or as it usually happens,
enter into a deal or dialogue with the government.

It is especially important for the PAP since this party, besides
the arithmetical difference of government levers, does not differ
from the RPA. In this case, the important thing is Gagik Tsarukyan’s
responsibility for the PAP behavior.

In the meantime, if the leaders do not sign, they will always have the
option of referring to the party’s representative who allegedly signed
the covenant without discussing it with the party and its leader.

For instance, when Vartan Oskanian stated that the coalition is
something artificial, Prosperous Armenia to which he belongs stated
that he had expressed his personal opinion as a political expert. So
there is no confidence that tomorrow the parties will not make
similar statements that Oskanian, for example, signed the covenant
as an individual.

Or, for example, the leader of the Armenian National Congress Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, speaking about their cooperation with the Prosperous
Armenia, noted that it is not the Congress’ opinion but his own. Now
it is interesting to know what Levon Zurabyan presents, Ter-Petrosyan’s
personal opinion or the Congress’ official position.

It will open the arena for the political forces to maneuver, so the
Heritage proposal is quite logical and proceeds from the logic of
the most important mission to make sure that the activities of the
headquarters are supported by strong guarantees later not to avoid
responsibility easily.

WILL SARGSYAN SIGN LAW ON STATE OF EMERGENCY?
Zhanna Alexanyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:28:40 – 11/04/2012

Yesterday the Army in Reality Initiative organized a discussion on the
draft law on the legal framework of the state of emergency. The law
was adopted by the National Assembly and presented to the president
who will sign the law after which the law will enter into force.

The speakers pinpointed that the law is unconstitutional and listed all
the ensuing dangers and consequences, trying to draw Serzh Sargsyan’s
attention to them and stop him from signing the law.

Legal counselor Vahe Grigoryan dwelled on the key argument of the
advocates of the law – the positive opinion of the Committee of Venice.

“This argument voiced at different levels is not true, namely the
Committee of Venice has never considered the essential difference
between martial law and state of emergency, the clear distinction
in the RA Constitution between the martial law and the state of
emergency.”

Vahe Grigoryan uses the word “weird” for the “mania of Armenian
government officials to rush to the Committee of Venice” whenever
an important issue is there, and regardless the opinion, it is said
to be positive. In the meantime, the lawyer says, only one body is
competent to judge constitutionality. It is the Constitutional Court,
and it would be good to know the opinion of the Committee of Venice
on this issue, the advocate said, noting that the Committee of Venice
expressed concern about some points which were, however, ignored by
the advocates of the law.

The next important issue brought up by the lawyer is the responsibility
to participate in the defense of the Republic of Armenia which
was not discussed by the Committee of Venice and the Armenian
parliament. Invoking Article 46 of the Constitution which states the
responsibility of every citizen to participate in the defense of the
homeland, Vahe Grigoryan says the National Assembly thinks defense
involves the deployment of a conscript inside the country which
leads to the repressive idea of internal enemy. “A soldier aged 18
is drafted to protect his homeland but is deployed against his own
parents. We already have such experience,” he says.

The human rights activist Artak Zeinalyan believes that the law
is adopted for one purpose, to use it to hold on to usurped power
through violence.

Richard Giragossian, chairman of the Center for Regional Studies,
presented an analysis of the law and the international best practices
noting that the law was adopted hastily, immediately prior to the
parliamentary elections and a year before the presidential elections,
arousing doubts.

Karen Hakobyan, head of the department of legislative analysis and
improvement of the Ministry of Justice, tried to argue with the
opponents of the law, reading the opinion of the minister of justice.

Vahe Grigoryan asked him which provision of the Constitution empowers
the president to deploy the armed forces in a state of emergency. “I
do not remember the exact article,” said the head of the MoJ department
of analysis and improvement of legislation.

Lieutenant colonel Varuzhan Avetisyan, lawyer, says not only is the
law unconstitutional but also it is a shame that this discussion
takes place at all because the overall power of the army has been
reduced because the army has become a Praetorian Guard.

Every state has enough police resource to protect constitutional order,
and if this force is not sufficient, it is a sign of systemic crisis,
he says. It indicates that the representative of the government lacks
legitimacy if there is a need to deploy additional forces to support
the police force. He hopes that the president of Armenia will not
sign the law and will have good sense to draw conclusions.

As to the text of the law, Varuzhan Avetisyan thinks it is badly
written, poorly structured, contains a lot of linguistic and
logical contradictions and errors, is an example of professional
irresponsibility, he says.

IT VENTURE FUND TO OPERATE IN ARMENIA BY YEAREND

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 11, 2012 – 15:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A venture fund for financing startups in IT sector
will operate in Armenia by the end of 2012, director of Enterprise
Incubator Foundation (EIF) said.

As Bagrat Yengibaryan told a press conference on April 11, the first
venture fund will be established through government assistance of
USD 6 mln, with 50% assistance to be ensured by the private sector.

“A complete model of the fund has already been developed, with
requirements specification planned in the near future to make the
project feasible by the end of the year,” Mr. Yengibaryan said.

CALLS RECEIVED BY “IDITORD” REFER ONLY TO INACCURACIES OF ELECTION LISTS

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 11, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The event organized by “Partnership
for open Society” initiative launched on April 11, was aimed on the
eve of 2012 Parliamentary elections present public programs.

Larisa Minasyan “The Open Society Foundations – Armenia “executive
director stated that the presented projects will later serve for
holding democratic elections, Armenpress reports.

“These projects are intended to control different processes during
the elections” she said.

“Multi- lateral Information Institute” NGO projects director Samvel
Martirosyan stated that “iDitord” (I am observer) web site, established
by them, enables the citizens to voice their alarm using the internet.

“Every citizen who has witnessed a falsification has the chance to
call us and the submitted alarm will be placed on the map; by the
means of which it will become clear where the violation accrued”
Martirosyan noted.

The interlocutor highlighted that throughout a week 108 calls have
already been registered which mainly refer to inaccuracies of lists
and election bribes. The calls are reportedly presented to CEC.

ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS SALUTES ENVIRONMENTALISTS

news.am
April 11, 2012 | 13:37

ETCHMIADZIN. – The Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, has
responded to the petitions submitted by the environmental activists.

“A permanent care and attention should be displayed toward nature. We
salute the attention and the zeal manifested by the environmental
organizations.

The environmental issues must be resolved by the relevant state
agencies, within the framework of the law, and under the guidance of
the country’s and the society’s interests,” the message received from
the Holy See of Saint Etchmiadzin specifically reads.

WHY DID 3 WOMEN WITHDRAW FROM ARMENIA’S ORINATS YERKIR PARTY ELECTION LIST?

news.am
April 11, 2012 | 12:40

YEREVAN. – Three women-namely, Ashkhen Manukyan, Karine Lazarian,
and Meri Ghonyan-have withdrawn from the ruling coalition’s Orinats
Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party (RLP) proportional list for the forthcoming
National Assembly elections. RLP Press Secretary Harutyun Amiryan
confirmed this information to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In Amiryan’s words, the reason why these women had withdrawn from the
list is because they are working at the electoral precinct commissions
and are busy with other Party activities, too.

RLP representative also informed that the Party discussed the decision
for their withdrawal and this was a joint decision.

Orinats Yerkir’s Press Secretary denied the news that these women
are leaving the Party and more people will follow suit.

AN OPEN LETTER TO BUSY ARMENIANS

asbarez
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

ANCA Telethon 2012
BY VACHE THOMASSIAN

You’re a good Armenian.

Proud of your heritage, concerned about our homeland, and committed
to Armenia’s future.

Since you were a child, you’ve given of your time and energy in
selfless service to our community and cause.

But, let’s face it, you’re busy: Work. Family. School. And everything
else.

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HIS HOLINESS ARAM I CATHOLICOS OF CILICIA RECEIVES HASMIK PAPYAN

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 12, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Aram I Catholicos of
Cilicia on April 12 received world famous singer Hasmik Papyan. Aram
I highly appreciated 25-year-old rich heritage of the Armenian singer;
Papyan was gifted with Armenian cross by Catholicos.

On the eve of the meeting with Aram Catholicos Papyan gave a concert
in Lebanon. Still in 2000 his holiness awarded the singer with “St.
Mesrop Mashtots” medal.

Hasmik Papyan has been living in Vienne for long years. She has had
numerous concerts on the most prestigious stages of the world.