Feb

25

Capital Complaints: Resignations and arrests highlight post-election weekendcount

Filed Under ArmeniaNow Weekly 

Levon Ter-Petrsoyan’s supporters have set up camp in the Liberty Square.A weekend that saw officials resign and others arrested also saw the expected official proclamation of Serzh Sargsyan as Armenia’s next president.

Confirming its preliminary finding, the Central Election Commission on Sunday found that Sargsyan took 52.8 percent of the February 19 vote, far beyond Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s 21.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the Ter-Petrosyan campaign continues a public protest it began last Wednesday, with daily rallies in Liberty Square, where six of its loyalists have begun a hunger strike.

The weekend was marked with a series of statements by government-related officials whose criticism of the voting process was assumed as an endorsement of Ter-Petrosyan’s stand.

Most notably, four diplomats resigned their posts: Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Baiburdyan, Ruben Shugaryan and Levon Khachatryan, Armenia’s ambassadors to Italy and Kazakhstan respectively, and Razmik Khumaryan, an Armenian envoy in Ukraine.

Another six Foreign Ministry officials were said to have joined the statement of their four colleagues, including Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department Head Vladimir Karapetyan.

Ter-Petrosysan called the MFA staff “heroes” and called on their chief, Minister Vartan Oskanian to “join them”. Though reported by oppositionist media as resignations, Karapetyan told ArmeniaNow that a statement released by the staff members should not be presumed as an alliance with Ter-Petrosyan (nor have they resigned).

“We are citizens who are worried over this situation, the atmosphere of intolerance is fraught with undesirable consequences and we are not supporters of anyone,” Karapteyan told ArmeniaNow. “But (we) consider it to be our duty as diplomats to urge both sides to avoid clashes and review the violations pointed out by international observers.”

The weekend of movement started when, during Friday’s rally, Ter-Petrosyan announced that Deputy Prosecutor-General Gagik Jhangiryan had joined his protest. (In addition to attracting crowds for daily rallies, Ter-Petrosyan has also formally lodged an appeal to the Constitutional Court, asserting his claim that the vote is invalid.)

Also on Friday, presidential candidate and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Vahan Hovhanissyan resigned his post, citing his disappointment with violations during last Tuesday’s vote. In his statement, however, Hovhannisyan made it clear that his resignation should not be construed as an endorsement of Ter-Petrosyan. Nor has leading oppositionist Artur Baghdasaryan (attributed with 16.7 percent of Tuesday’s vote) aligned with the protestors, though his party’s chief spokeswoman joined the Friday rally.

Analyst Yervand Bozoyan describes Hovhannisyan’s resignation as a protest action. “By this, Hovhannisyan shows that he does not put up with the situation,” Bozoyan says. “Even only in one precinct a recount of votes showed that he lost quite a number of votes.”

Armen Ashotyan, a senior ruling Republican Party member, disagrees with the analyst, saying that it cannot be viewed as protest, since the ARF, Hovhanissyan’s party, signed the CEC decision on the count.

“It is a personal decision of a candidate who failed to poll the number of votes he had expected,” Ashotyan says.

Over Saturday and Sunday, Jhangiryan was among the arrested in four separate incidents as police cracked down on the oppositionists on charges of illegal weapons possession (though it is commonly accepted that such high-profile public and private figures and/or bodyguards carry weapons).

Among the arrested were bodyguards for Ter-Petrosyan stalwart supporter, tycoon Khachatur Sukiasyan.

While President Robert Kocharyan has vowed that he will not allow forces “to jeopardize internal political stability,” no clashes between police and protestors has been reported (though Jhangiryan’s brother was said to have been “accidentally shot” during Saturday’s arrest by police).

Except for the announcements and subsequent administrative discipline of some government employees, these days of protest bear similarities to 2003, when oppositionist Stepan Demirchyan’s supporters eventually submitted to the will of the court and authorities.

Political analyst Igor Muradyan calls this post-election situation “a struggle of two clans for power” of which only the people will suffer.

By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Source: http://www.armenianow.com

Permanent link:  http://www.armpress.com/armenianow/2008/02/25/972/

Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Friday, 10 February 2012

  • Admin

  • Calendar

  • Archives

  • Links

  • International newspers: