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Press Review


"Aravot" takes the view that state propaganda has made former president Levon Ter-Petrosian and his Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party a "serious political factor." "During his five-year rule Kocharian has done everything so that the people do not forget the HHSh and Ter-Petrosian, making inappropriate comparisons and terrifying people with their (HHSh's) 'revanchist' intentions." The paper says the current authorities are really worried about the prospect of a Ter-Petrosian comeback. "But because nothing happens accidentally in countries like Armenia, Kocharian will 'win' [the presidential election] in any case…Now Kocharian has to contest the elections in proud solitude."

"Hayots Ashkhar" says opposition claims about intensifying infighting among various governing factions are proving to be false. Now the opposition is fueling speculation that the Republican Party's victory in local elections and the subsequent strengthening of Prime Minister Andranik Markarian's position pose a serious threat to Kocharian. "With such tricks, the oppositionists, more than convinced of their inevitable defeat in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, are trying to move the already lost game to the opposite side's court with the adventurist aim of scoring a goal by default," the pro-presidential paper comments.

"Haykakan Zhamanak" attacks the chairman of the parliament's Armenia-Iraq "friendship group," Ghukas Ulikhanian, and his fellow opposition lawmaker Aghasi Arshakian for defending Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The paper says "representatives of political forces that accuse Kocharian of attempting to turn Armenia into a dictatorial state are delighted with the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein." "Ghukas Ulikhanian, a member of the [opposition] Hanrapetutyun party, simply does not understand that by praising Saddam he cannot demand that [the case of the parliament killings of] October 27 be solved, because Saddam reached hegemony in his country by means of several dozen unsolved October 27s."

In an interview with "Hayots Ashkhar," the chairman of the Armenian Union of Writers, Levon Ananian, laments what he sees as an atmosphere of widespread political intolerance in Armenia. "Today our society is not prepared for holding free and fair elections," he says. "If the society knows in advance during an election that it is making a wrong choice by selling its votes, then it deserves those whom it elects."

(Vache Sarkisian)
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