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YEREVAN MUNICIPAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN BEGINS
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle=420 42_5/4/2009_1
Monday, May 4, 2009
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Campaigning has officially begun for the first
mayoral elections in Yerevan in nearly two decades. Residents of the
Armenian capital will go to the polls on May 31 to elect a municipal
assembly empowered to choose the city's next mayors.
Yerevan's municipal assembly has been appointed by the president of
the republic ever since Armenia adopted its post-Soviet constitution
in 1995. One of the amendments to that constitution enacted in late
2005 allowed indirect elections of Yerevan mayors by universal
suffrage. President Serzh Sarkisian and his predecessor Robert
Kocharian controversially delayed the conduct of those polls.
Under a relevant law adopted by parliament late last year, all 65
seats in the municipal Council of Elders will be up for grabs under
the system of proportional representation. The law stipulates that
parties and blocs need to win at least 7 and 9 percent of the vote
respectively in order to be represented in the assembly. The party
or bloc getting more than 40 percent of the vote would be able to
single-handedly appoint the next mayor
The election campaign got underway on Saturday after the Central
Election Commission (CEC) formally registered six parties and one
alliance for the polls. Those include the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation.
The ARF, a major election contender, held its first campaign rally at
Yerevan's largest cinema on Monday, one week after it pulled out of the
ruling coalition in protest against Sarkisian's conciliatory policy on
Turkey. The ARF's top candidate, Artsvik Minasian, pledged, among other
things, to end serious restrictions on gatherings and demonstrations
in Yerevan that were put in place following Armenia's February 2008
presidential election."We would make every effort to ensure that
those restrictions are not undue and ludicrous," said Minasian.
Speaking at the campaign kickoff on Monday, Armen Rustamian, the
chairman of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, stressed the need for
a healthy and democratic election environment that does not use the
municipal pole as a means to force regime change.
"We must realize that it is wrong to say that by winning [control over]
the municipality we can create a state within a state and that the
next step, regime change, will not be long in coming: the president
of the republic will resign and these authorities will go," said
Armen Rustamian, the chairman of the ARF's supreme body in Armenia.
The message was clearly addressed to the main opposition Armenian
National Congress that has pledged to turn the municipal polls into
a "second round" of the disputed presidential election and use its
possible victory for toppling Sarkisian. The opposition group rallied
thousands of supporters in downtown Yerevan on Friday.
Its top leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, described proper
conduct of the May 31 vote as Sarkisian's "last chance to gain some
authority with Armenian society and the international community."
Ter-Petrosian did not say, though, what his 18-party alliance will
do if it considers the vote to have been fraudulent.
Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia was scheduled to hold its first
campaign event late on Monday. The ruling party's list of candidates
is headed by the incumbent Mayor Gagik Beglarian, controversially
appointed to the post by the President only a few months ahead of
the polls.
The Republican Party has already been facing opposition allegations
that the Yerevan municipality is pressuring public sector employees
to pledge to vote for the Beglarian-led list.
The Republican Party's two junior partners in the governing coalition
kicked off their own campaigns on Saturday with indoor presentations
of their platforms. "We mean business," Gagik Tsarukian, the leader
of the Prosperous Armenia Party, told hundreds of supporters, summing
up the party's main message to Yerevan voters.
The Prosperous Armenia electoral list is topped by Health Minister
Harutiun Kushkian. "I am a Yerevantsi and know Yerevantsis' concerns
well," he said during the presentation.
The other coalition party, Orinats Yerkir, also claimed to be aiming
for victory in the upcoming polls.
"Orinats Yerkir is participating in these elections with a resolve
to win," its leader, Artur Baghdasarian, said as he outlined its
campaign manifesto.
The party's mayoral candidate, Heghine Bisharian, said "kindness"
will be the main feature of her campaign speeches. "But if there
are people who will say wicked things, especially about us, we will
definitely respond," she told RFE/RL.
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle=420 42_5/4/2009_1
Monday, May 4, 2009
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Campaigning has officially begun for the first
mayoral elections in Yerevan in nearly two decades. Residents of the
Armenian capital will go to the polls on May 31 to elect a municipal
assembly empowered to choose the city's next mayors.
Yerevan's municipal assembly has been appointed by the president of
the republic ever since Armenia adopted its post-Soviet constitution
in 1995. One of the amendments to that constitution enacted in late
2005 allowed indirect elections of Yerevan mayors by universal
suffrage. President Serzh Sarkisian and his predecessor Robert
Kocharian controversially delayed the conduct of those polls.
Under a relevant law adopted by parliament late last year, all 65
seats in the municipal Council of Elders will be up for grabs under
the system of proportional representation. The law stipulates that
parties and blocs need to win at least 7 and 9 percent of the vote
respectively in order to be represented in the assembly. The party
or bloc getting more than 40 percent of the vote would be able to
single-handedly appoint the next mayor
The election campaign got underway on Saturday after the Central
Election Commission (CEC) formally registered six parties and one
alliance for the polls. Those include the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation.
The ARF, a major election contender, held its first campaign rally at
Yerevan's largest cinema on Monday, one week after it pulled out of the
ruling coalition in protest against Sarkisian's conciliatory policy on
Turkey. The ARF's top candidate, Artsvik Minasian, pledged, among other
things, to end serious restrictions on gatherings and demonstrations
in Yerevan that were put in place following Armenia's February 2008
presidential election."We would make every effort to ensure that
those restrictions are not undue and ludicrous," said Minasian.
Speaking at the campaign kickoff on Monday, Armen Rustamian, the
chairman of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, stressed the need for
a healthy and democratic election environment that does not use the
municipal pole as a means to force regime change.
"We must realize that it is wrong to say that by winning [control over]
the municipality we can create a state within a state and that the
next step, regime change, will not be long in coming: the president
of the republic will resign and these authorities will go," said
Armen Rustamian, the chairman of the ARF's supreme body in Armenia.
The message was clearly addressed to the main opposition Armenian
National Congress that has pledged to turn the municipal polls into
a "second round" of the disputed presidential election and use its
possible victory for toppling Sarkisian. The opposition group rallied
thousands of supporters in downtown Yerevan on Friday.
Its top leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, described proper
conduct of the May 31 vote as Sarkisian's "last chance to gain some
authority with Armenian society and the international community."
Ter-Petrosian did not say, though, what his 18-party alliance will
do if it considers the vote to have been fraudulent.
Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia was scheduled to hold its first
campaign event late on Monday. The ruling party's list of candidates
is headed by the incumbent Mayor Gagik Beglarian, controversially
appointed to the post by the President only a few months ahead of
the polls.
The Republican Party has already been facing opposition allegations
that the Yerevan municipality is pressuring public sector employees
to pledge to vote for the Beglarian-led list.
The Republican Party's two junior partners in the governing coalition
kicked off their own campaigns on Saturday with indoor presentations
of their platforms. "We mean business," Gagik Tsarukian, the leader
of the Prosperous Armenia Party, told hundreds of supporters, summing
up the party's main message to Yerevan voters.
The Prosperous Armenia electoral list is topped by Health Minister
Harutiun Kushkian. "I am a Yerevantsi and know Yerevantsis' concerns
well," he said during the presentation.
The other coalition party, Orinats Yerkir, also claimed to be aiming
for victory in the upcoming polls.
"Orinats Yerkir is participating in these elections with a resolve
to win," its leader, Artur Baghdasarian, said as he outlined its
campaign manifesto.
The party's mayoral candidate, Heghine Bisharian, said "kindness"
will be the main feature of her campaign speeches. "But if there
are people who will say wicked things, especially about us, we will
definitely respond," she told RFE/RL.