Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Former president to run for Yerevan Mayor

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Former president to run for Yerevan Mayor

    Former president to run for Yerevan Mayor

    Levon Ter-Petrossian, the first president of independent Armenia, will
    participate in the municipal elections of the Armenian capital to be
    held on 31 May. Amid fears of election rigging, with both sides
    convinced of their own sweeping victory, the opposition hopes to weaken
    the legitimacy of president Sargsyan

    25.03.2009 Da Yerevan, scrive Onnik Krikorian

    The announcement that former president and extra-parliamentary
    opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian intends to run for Yerevan Mayor
    was unexpected, but not surprising. Previous presidents, including
    Ter-Petrossian himself, had resisted earlier calls to make the position
    an elected one, fearful of the economic and political power such an
    official would possess.

    In November 2005, however, demands from the Council of Europe forced the
    authorities to amend the constitution in order to bring it into line
    with European standards. One key provision was to allow residents of the
    capital to elect the city head. Over three years later, the necessary
    changes to the electoral code and new legislation were introduced and
    are now in force.

    Although not directly elected by residents, the mayor will be determined
    by a new 65-seat council to be elected under a proportional system of
    voting on 31 May. Despite its inactivity in recent months, speculation
    that Ter-Petrossian's opposition movement would contest the vote had
    been growing since earlier this month when it announced its next rally
    would be held on 1 May.

    Even so, most residents remained resigned to the likely victory of the
    ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) candidate, Gagik Beglarian.
    More commonly known as `Chorni (Black) Gago,' when Beglarian stepped
    down as the city's Kentron district chief on 4 March to replace the
    previous mayor, Yervand Zakarian, the move simply confirmed such
    speculation.

    However, most observers believe that Ter-Petrossian's participation in
    the municipal election now makes the outcome more difficult to predict.
    Moreover, some analysts predict, the decision also suggests the start of
    renewed efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the authorities following
    last year's bitterly disputed presidential election.

    Although Ter-Petrossian lost to the current president, Serge Sargsyan,
    in the 19 February 2008 vote, many believe that the incumbent did not
    attract enough votes in the first round. As a result, nearly two weeks
    of street protests followed until 1 March when the tense post-election
    standoff ended in clashes which left 10 dead and a 20-day state of
    emergency declared in the country.

    In a written statement issued on 17 March, Ter Petrossian's Armenian
    National Congress (ANC) officially announced its decision. `With this
    move, we are sending a very clear political message to society. We
    regard the election of Yerevan's mayor as a very serious opportunity to
    change the existing dictatorial system and [...] as a second round to the
    2008 presidential elections,' it read.

    "This will be a struggle for lawfulness," added ANC office coordinator
    Levon Zurabian during a press conference held in Yerevan the same day.
    "We have come to combat this tyrannical, criminal and oligarchic system
    to establish democracy in the country. This will not be a struggle
    against Beglarian -- our main rival is the regime."

    In response, the RPA has been quick to accuse the extra-parliamentary
    opposition of planning to use the municipal vote to ignite a new series
    of street protests aimed at enacting regime change. `We won't allow the
    opposition to organize disturbances and provoke another `1st of March','
    said RPA deputy leader Razmik Zohrabian the following day.

    But, with two reports from Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State
    Department criticizing the government's handling of last year's
    post-election unrest, it is unlikely that it could survive any
    potentially embarrassing crackdown either. Moreover, in a rally to mark
    the first anniversary of the 1 March disorders, Ter-Petrossian also
    ruled out hopes among his supporters for a `popular uprising.'

    `The old-fashioned ideas of revolution or uprising must be finally
    driven out of our country's political agenda,' he told a crowd of
    between 10-20,000 people. `As long as that hasn't happened, Armenia can
    have no chance of becoming a rule-of-law and democratic state. History
    knows virtually no revolutions that engendered democracy and welfare.'

    Instead, with the recent collapse of the dram adding to existing
    political tensions in the country, the opposition hopes public
    discontent will turn the election into a vote of confidence in the
    authorities. As a result, many suspect the pre-election campaign will be
    tense, with vote-buying and other electoral code violations defining the
    campaign period as well as polling day itself.

    Given dwindling attendances at previous rallies and demonstrations, it
    is uncertain whether Ter-Petrossian can attract enough votes to win
    outright, but there are few who believe Beglarian can sweep to victory
    either. Indeed, it is for this reason that the head of one international
    organization monitoring elections in Armenia says that the new
    legislation is cause for some concern.

    `The law specifies that if political party receives more than 40 percent
    of seats on the city council, but does not have the absolute majority,
    then extra seats are automatically allocated to it at the expense of
    others,' the source told Osservatorio Caucaso on the condition of
    anonymity. `This `bonus system' under local circumstances is extra
    leverage to gain absolute power.'

    `The motivation for this becomes clearer if we look at the results of
    the National Assembly election in 2007 when the Republican Party
    received only 33 percent of votes through the proportional system,' he
    explains. `Basically, [after the events of last year] the ruling party
    can no longer manipulate the results of elections as obviously as before.'

    Meanwhile, in the hope that forming a united front could counter the
    administrative resources at the disposal of the incumbent, discussions
    to form an electoral bloc between the ANC and the parliamentary
    opposition Heritage party had been underway. On 17 March, however,
    Heritage spokesperson Hovsep Khurshudian informed journalists that talks
    had collapsed.

    Regardless, the 31 May election looks likely to be the first real test
    of Armenia's fledgling democracy since last year's disputed and highly
    controversial presidential election. However, with both sides convinced
    of their own sweeping victory, Yerevan looks set to experience yet
    another potentially volatile period along its path to democracy.

    http://www.osservatoriobalcani.org/art icle/articleview/11101/1/404

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X