Author: Jalatian Sonya

Panorama.am

13:01 08/02/2008

MONITORING: FIRST WEEK OF CAMPAIGN

`This year’s pre electoral campaign and its coverage
by the media differs from the last one by its more
neutral and equal side,’ said Roberta Bonacci, the
chairwoman of the `Ecoresearch’ international
organization.

The international organization carried out a
monitoring on Mass media in Armenia in the election
time with the order of democratic European foundation.
Today the organization published its report. According
to them the first week of the campaign was researched.

`We found out that Armenian Mass media is a step
advanced compared with the last years,’ said Karen
Prichard, the head of the organization. Two candidates
were more covered than the others; they are Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan.

Note that all the Mass media was researched except the
online publications. The above mentioned organization
cooperates with `Mediabrand’ company.

Source: Panorama.am

TWO PUBLIC OPINION POLLS GIVE PRIME MINISTER HUGE LEAD

ARMENPRESS
Feb 06 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: Head of a local polling and research
center unveiled today the findings of another of public opinion surveys
which found that nearly half of eligible Armenians have made a final
decision on who to vote for in the February 19 presidential election.

Aharon Adibekian, head of Sociometr center, said this figure was
derived from a comparative analysis of six surveys conducted late
last and this year.

Speaking at a news conference Mr. Adibekian, whose surveys have been
criticized by opposition as lacking credibility, ‘because they are
commissioned by the government", said 12 percent of voters are still
swinging and 11 percent did not wish to reveal the name of their
candidate. Therefore, said Adibekian, it appears that some 68 percent
of eligible voters are expected to go to the polls. The voter turnout
in regions beyond Yerevan is expected to be even higher.

Some 25 percent of respondents are not interested in politics at all
and in all likelihood they will boycott the February 19 ballot. Four
percent of Armenians cited their fundamental opposition to national
elections and will ignore the ballot too while three percent are
still undecided about their participation.

According to Aharon Adibekian, 67 percent of those who have made a
final decision, who make 45 percent, will vote for prime minister
Serzh Sarkisian, 13 percent for a former parliament chairman Arthur
Baghdasarian, 11 percent for ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian,
five percent for a deputy parliament chairman Vahan Hovhanesian,
2 percent for Vazgen Manukian and 1 percent for Artashes Geghamian,
Three other candidates-Arman Melikian, Tigran Karapetian and Aram
Harutunian will get each less than 1 percent.

Aharon Adibekian said based on these figures there is a very little
probability of a run-off because, according to his calculations,
even if the swinging segment who are 16 percent, votes for opposition
candidates that would not affect the final results.

He said even if two or more opposition candidates decide to team up
and contest the election with one joint candidate that would neither
impede prime minister to win the election outright as overall the
opposition would garner less than 30 percent of all votes.

Aharon Adibekian further said the poll showed that ex-president Levon
Ter-Petrosian ‘enjoys’ the highest negative popularity rating of almost
40 percent while prime minister Sarkisian’s negative reputation rating
is 9 percent. That of Arthur Baghdasarian is 3 percent.

The poll also revealed that 73 percent of residents receive related
information from TV channels. The second important source of
information are routine conversations and rumors.

Today were unveiled also findings of another public opinion poll that
was commissioned by the government-controlled Public TV and Radio
Council to a British Populus research center. The field work was
done by the Armenian Sociological Association, also criticized by the
opposition, on Januarys 21-29 among 1,500 respondents and according
to its chief, Andrew Cooper, the Armenian poll has a margin of error
of 2.6 percent.

According to the Populus poll, 50.7 percent of respondents will vote
for Serzh Sarkisian, 13.4 percent for Arthur Baghdasarian and 12.6
percent for Levon Ter-Petrosian. Vahan Hovhanesian will get almost
8 percent of the vote.

The Populus poll also revealed that 56 percent of Armenians will
go to polling stations on the voting day. Also 57 percent think
that Armenia is on the right track. Most optimistic in this sense,
according to Cooper are young people. Fifty-four percent of people
aged 18-34 believe their and their families’ living standards would
improve in the next 12 months.

The survey also revealed Armenians’ treatment of foreign counties
and international organizations.

Thus, 88 percent named Russia as Armenia’s most reliable partner,
which is followed by France (70 percent) and the EU (63 percent).

CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY ADMITS LOW PROBABILITY OF SHRINKAGE OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ NUMBER

2008-02-07 17:15:00

ArmInfo. "I think the probability of shrinkage of the Armenian
presidential candidates’ number is low, though one shouldn’t rule it
out at all", Chairman of the National-Democratic Party (NDP) Shavarsh
Kocharyan told journalists at Pastark club, Thursday.

He said that there are two days left before the deadline for submission
of applications for withdrawal of nominees to the Central Electoral
Commission, and the list of contenders for the highest state position
is unlikely to undergo any changes. Asked to comment upon probable
consolidation of presidential candidates Arthur Baghdasaryan and
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharyan said: "If they imagine such kind of
consolidation, let them consolidate".

At the same time, he confirmed that the supporters of presidential
candidate Vazgen Manukyan encouraged by the NDP and those of ARF
Dashnaksutyun Party are still holding political negotiations. We
have much in common, however, our positions are not so much alike
to let us consolidate. Forces with national-democratic ideology
have gathered around Vazgen Manukyan, and ARF Dashnaksutyun is a
socialist party. But one thing is clear: our cooperation with ARFD
will become deeper regardless of the results of the forthcoming
presidential election", Kocharyan said. Thus, the attempt to get
a unambiguous answer to the question whether the negotiations with
ARFD may finish with the withdrawal of Vazgen Manukyan’s candidacy
in Vahan Hovhannisyan’s favor has failed.

HERITAGE PARTY PARLIAMENTARY FACTION LEAVES SESSION HALL AS A SIGN OF PROTEST

arminfo
2008-02-06 13:31:00

ArmInfo. Fifty-five deputies attended the Wednesday sitting of the
Parliament of Armenia, ArmInfo correspondent to the Parliament
reports. To open the sitting, deputies lacked 9 votes. However,
deputies managed to ensure additional votes for the quorum, 71 in
total, voting instead of their colleagues, by tradition. As a result,
members of Heritage party faction left the session hall as a sign
of protest. Only the full staff of the Republican Party of Armenia
faction and their ally Prosperous Armenia party faction attended
the sitting. Nevertheless, the incident did not hold Speaker Tigran
Torosyan from continuing the sitting. It is noteworthy that the
factions of Orinats Yerkir and ARFD parties were absent. In general,
there are 131deputy mandates in the Armenian Parliament.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS HAVE EXCELLENT PROSPECT OF DEVELOPMENT

Noyan Tapan
Feb 6, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian president Robert
Kocharian on February 6 received the delegation headed by the Russian
prime minister Victor Zubkov who is on an official visit to Armenia. NT
was informed by the RA president’s press service that the Armenian
prime minister Serge Sargsian, other high-ranking officials took part
in the meeting.

Expressing satisfaction at the development of Armenian-Russian
relations, R. Kocharian said that these relations have an excellent
prospect. In his words, the economic links have become a locomotive of
bilateral cooperation, as a result of which Russian capital has been
attracted to many sectors of the Armenian economy, efficient programs
have been implemented, and the attraction of capital is expected to
grow. He pointed out the dynamically developing cooperation in some
infrastructural sectors.

The sides stated that the commodity turnover of nearly one billion
dollars and the results achieved have created good prerequisites for
large-scale promising programs. The interlocutors attributed the
economic achievements to efficient work of the Armenian-Russian
Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation Issues
as well. They stressed the importance of active cooperation in
humanitarian, cultural, educational spheres and underlined the
necessity of making this cooperation more coordinated.

VAZGEN MANUKYAN HELD SECRET MEETINGS

A1+
05 February, 2008

Today Chairman of the "National Democratic Union" Vazgen Manukyan
was to meet the leadership of the CIS observation mission, but as
the party’s press speaker Gohar Veziryan informed that the meeting,
as such, did not take place. "I and the head of Vazgen Manukyan’s
headquarters Samvel Shahinyan were informed beforehand, that Vazgen
Manukyan was to meet the leadership of the CIS observation mission. In
the morning they came an hour later they we had agreed and it turned
out that the head of the Yerevan office with his representatives had
come to meet Vazgen Mnukyan and they had brought a letter, – said
Gohar Veziryan and added, – The head of our headquarters said they
would meet him despite the change of the format. The meeting with the
candidate did not take place; instead they talked to Samvel Shahinyan".

As to the content of the letter Gohar Veziryan said: "The letter was
addressed to Vazgen Manukyan and it contained questions referring
to the elections. They were mainly of organizational character", she
informed. To the question whether Samvel Shahinyan raised any issues
or not, Gohar Veziryan responded: "The meeting was not conducting is
a friendly atmosphere, we answered to their questions and they left".

The Chairman of the "National Democratic Union" Vazegn Manukyan had two
other meetings today but the press speaker refused to reflect on them.

ARMENIAN POLITICIANS DO NOT TAKE BAGDASARIAN’S CLAIMS ABOUT THREATS TO HIS LIFE SERIOUSLY

Interfax
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 4, 2008 Monday 9:54 PM MSK

The statement by Armenian presidential candidate and leader of the
Orinats Yerkir Party Artur Bagdasarian about a threat to his life
are mere populism, said MP Eduard Sharmazanov, the press secretary
of the Armenian Republican Party.

"This is a sort of PR campaign and cannot be taken seriously, because
if there was a real threat to his life Bagdasarian would have contacted
Armenian law enforcement bodies," Sharmazanov told Interfax on Monday.

The public is already used to seeing some of the candidates make
sensational statements in a bid to win the race instead of doing
something useful, he said.

Bagdasarian’s statement is just a campaign trick, said another
presidential candidate, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. "If
something like this had actually taken place, he might have contacted
law enforcement bodies. I made enquiries, no such report was ever
received," the prime minister said.

Armenian Prosecutor General Agvan Ovsepian ordered an investigation
on Monday to examine the circumstances, which led Bagdasarian to
make such a statement, the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office
told Interfax. There was no request from Bagdasarian himself, the
prosecution spokesperson said.

Speaking at a rally to a few thousand people in Yerevan on February 3,
Bagdasarian stated that "threats of assassination" were made against
him the day before. "I am ready to die for Armenia," Bagdasarian said,
adding that if anything ever happens to him, responsibility will rest
with the current authorities. "My aides will soon name the persons
who are voicing these threats," the politician said.

NATO ASSESSMENT MISSION VISITS ARMENIA

armradio.am
04.02.2008 17:52

February 4-8 the high mission of NATO headed by Head of the Political
Affairs and Security Directorate Yaroslav Skonechka will be in
Armenia. The Armenian delegation is headed by RA Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Arman Kirakosyan and Deputy Defense Minister
Ara Nazaryan.

The visit is aimed at assessing the accomplishment of the Individual
Partnership Action Plan and the Planning and Review Process.

Today the discussions between the delegation of the Republic of
Armenia and NATO kicked off at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They
will continue through February 6.

The cooperation programs refer to the modernization of RA Armed Forces,
political and democratic reforms.

A report will be prepared as a result of the assessment, which will
be submitted to NATO headquarters. It will later be discussed at the
joint sitting of the North-Atlantic Council and Armenia.

NEW DOCUMENT ON KARABAKH

Lragir
Feb 4 2008
Armenia

On February 7 the presidential candidate Aram Harutiunyan will invite
all the presidential candidates to the Pastark Club to urge them to
sign a document on Karabakh to display a common stance at least on
this issue because it is an important national issue which directly
relates to national security.

Aram Harutiunyan says it is going to be a document not signing which
would be a shame. He stated this on February 4 at the Pastark Press
Club, saying that some political forces remind of Lenin’s approach who
wanted Russia lose World War I to promote the Bolshevist revolution.

PACE OBSERVER MISSION IN GENERAL AGREES WITH INTERIM REPORT PUBLISHED BY OSCE/ODIHR

Noyan Tapan
Feb 1, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The 30 members of the PACE interim
commission on observation of the presidential elections will arrive
in Armenia on February 17. The observer mission’s preliminary report
on elections will be published in Yerevan on February 20, while
the final report will be presented to the PACE for discussion two
months after the vote. The head of the interim observer commission,
PACE deputy John Prescott (UK) announced this at the January 31
press conference at the RA National Assembly. He added that if the
preliminary conclusion to be published in Yerevan is the same as
those of the other observer missions, including of the OSCE/ODIHR,
in this case it would be expedient not to repeat the same and present
a conclusion only once – at a joint press conference.

The 3-member delegation headed by John Prescott conducted preliminary
observation in Yerevan on January 29-31 with the aim of evaluating
the current political atmosphere in the country and the preparation
for the elections. The delegation had numerous meetings, including
meetings with the Armenian leadership, the chhairman of the RA
Central Electoral Commission, candidates for the RA presidency,
NGOs and journalistic organizations.

J. Prescott stated that they in general agree with the first interim
report on the upcoming presidential elections in the RA published
by OSCE/ODIHR the day before. He said that they take the view that
the holding of truly democratic elections and the legitimacy of their
results depend on the high level of public confidence in the electoral
process. So the delegation recommends that the Armenian authorities
should take all necessary messures to ensure public confidence in
electoral process.

By the way, among the delegation members was Lord Russel Johnston, the
head of the PACE interim commission on Nagorno Karabakh problem. In
response to reporters’ question, he said that he is in Armenia as
observer, while after the presidential elections he will arrive
as the commission chairman in order to meet with the new Armenian
president. Prior to arriving in Armenia, he visited Azerbaijan and
met with the country’s president.