Published since 07.2002
Published on January 18, 2008
PRE-CAMPAIGN TRANSGRESSIONS?: OPPOSITION PARTY SAYS VOTERS ALREADY BEING PRESSURED IN FAVOR OF SERZH
- A senior representative of the opposition Orinats Yerkir party claims authorities are using administrative levers to secure a win for their candidate in next month’s presidential election. “We possess evidence that the authorities gather heads of rural communities, mayors, regional governors and coerce them into securing a certain percentage of votes for [Prime Minister] Serzh Sargsyan,” Orinats Yerkir party vice-chairman Heghine Bisharyan told reporters on Wednesday. “They are also doing the same thing with teachers, threatening that they would fire them from jobs if they did not provide a list.”
Orinats Yerkir also voices its concern over TV campaign ad prices published by television companies, which, party activists claim, restrict the media campaign opportunities for candidates.
“The simplest calculations show that even if a candidate avails himself of the airtime of four of the nine television companies with the broadest reach, it will cost him more than the whole permitted campaign spending of 70 million drams ($230,000),” Orinats Yerkir said in a statement.
According to the party’s leaders, such conditions restrict the candidates’ possibilities of funding other means of campaigning allowed by law.
According to Bisharyan, regional television companies are under government pressure, as a result of which they will not provide airtime to opposition candidates.
“Another problem is that the free airtime provided to candidates will be between 5 pm and 6 pm, which means that a considerable number of people will be at work and will not have an opportunity to watch it,” Bisharyan, who is also Artur Baghdasaryan’s campaign manager, said.
According to Bisharyan, Orinats Yerkir is also concerned by the fact that 170 million drams (or some $550,000) are earmarked in the state budget for printing passports.
Baghdasaryan, who will be contesting the presidency under the mottos of “Armenia open your eyes!” and “New Armenia”, is expected to unveil his election manifesto in the coming days.
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Today in Armenian history- 1830 Following Sultan Mahmood's decree and the advice of the French, British, and Russian ambassadors, the Armenian Catholics in Turkey were given a Patriarchate and their own administrative organization.
- 1888 Birth, in Constantinople, of the actor Vahram Papazyan. He is considered to have no equal in the Armenian theater.
- 1906 Birth of composer Ashot Satian. He died in 1958.
- 1911 Birth of theater personality Gevorg Ashughyan.
- 1990 Start of hostilities between Armenian and Azeri Turkish forces near Raskh.
- 2001 The French Senate recognizes the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
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