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Press Review


“Hayots Ashkhar” says that the Armenian opposition has “no real chance” to win the upcoming parliamentary elections and will instead try to “spoil” them by securing another negative assessment from international observers. The paper says what the authorities need to do now is to minimize possible vote irregularities and thereby “neutralize all attempts to cast shadow on the elections.”

Artarutyun leader Stepan Demirchian tells “Ayb-Fe” that “constructive relations” between the authorities and the opposition will become possible only when the authorities “do not falsify elections.” “Nobody is naïve to think that they can hold fair elections,” Demirchian says. “But that does not mean that we are unable to fight.”

“Aravot” ridicules legal grounds on which two prominent opposition members, Hayk Babukhanian and Ashasi Arshakian, were denied registration as election candidates. The Central Election Commission, the paper says, is far more lenient toward scores of other, much wealthier candidates who own huge fortunes but never disclose their real incomes. “But the CEC did not doubt the sincerity of any oligarch or mobster. So it turns out, according to the CEC, that the most dishonest candidates are those two men who have rich political experience, but are definitely devoid of any economic levers and therefore have nothing to hide,” “Aravot” concludes.

“Orran” says the intellectual level of Armenian parliamentary candidates continues to decline. The paper fears that the parliament that will be elected on May 25 might have to be “isolated” from the society.

“Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” says Armenia’s former leadership is again trying to score political points by speculating about ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s political comeback. Especially after the controversial ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court. The paper describes Ter-Petrosian allies as “immoral” politicians who are bent on “disorienting the people.”

“Hayots Ashkhar” also sees a “coup scenario” drawn up by the former ruling HHSh. The paper says the HHSh leadership was buoyed by the Constitutional Court’s call for a “referendum of confidence” in Kocharian. “True, Constitutional Court chairman Gagik Harutiunian objects that his innocent proposal pursued nice goals…elementary logic suggests that he is, to put it mildly, behaving cunningly.” The paper claims that Harutiunian, who served as Armenia’s vice-president under Ter-Petrosian from 1991-96, discussed the referendum idea with “HHSh circles” beforehand.

“Hayots Ashkhar” and “Yerkir” report that a group of Constitutional Court staffers resigned on Monday in protest against its election ruling. Lawyers working there “can not digest its judicial illiteracy, according to “Yerkir.”

But as “Iravunk” comments, the fierce verbal attacks on Harutiunian demonstrate that the authorities see “enemy” in anyone who even slightly disagrees with them.

(Vache Sarkisian)
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