The authority figures have started to confess that there have been falsifications and electoral bribes during the constitutional amendments referendum in their speeches. As a matter of fact, those speeches are made by top-duty officials. President of the National Assembly Artur Baghdasaryan said the following just a couple of days ago: “It is evident there have been falsifications and I agree that that is not good for our country’s reputation.” But it turns out that the authorities are not the only ones to blame, although they were the ones who organized and carried out the falsifications and electoral bribes. The opposition played its role too. Vice speaker of the National Assembly and member of the Armenian Republican Political Party Tigran Torosyan announced that the opposition didn’t have to boycott the referendum, but rather, it had to do its best to prevent violations and abuse.
“It turns out that the ones who actually carried out the falsifications are throwing the blame on others, claiming that if they came, then they wouldn’t have done that. There is only one positive side here: the authorities themselves realize that their power is illegal, they are useless and they are so connected to criminal acts that they can’t even organize normal elections if they wanted to. Although, I do believe that they have not even had a desire and they have been ordered around,” says vice president of the administrative wing of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) Andranik Hovakimyan in response to the speech made by representative of the coalition. Hovakimyan also stated that ANM has nothing to do with this due to the fact that the ANM does not have any electoral committees. However, the ANM was the first out of all political parties which announced the boycott of the constitutional amendments process on July 5, 1995, the day when the first constitution was passed. Now, when the referendum is already in the past, how effective was that process? We asked Andranik Hovakimyan. “We knew beforehand that whether or not there would be oppositionists in the electoral committees, there would be orders to make up statistics and that is exactly what happened. The boycott showed everyone that the citizens of the Republic of Armenia are against the constitutional amendments,” said A. Hovakimyan. But, as they say, you can’t change the past. As a result of the referendum, today we have a new but poor Constitution. According to the vice president of the administrative wing of ANM, changing and improving the Mother Law of the country is only a technical issue. The only thing the country needs for that is to have legal authorities that are elected by the people. “By taking into consideration the results of this referendum, any democratic country must bring the falsifiers to justice whether or not those people wanted to do that or not, or they have done what they were told to do,” said Mr. Hovakimyan. These days, the opposition is trying to start a revolution. Only time will tell if they will really reach their goal. But according to Hovakimyan, society must first realize that it needs change of power and formation of legal authorities. “We can not just put the whole burden on the opposition’s shoulders. We must understand that today Armenia is ruled by a regime, by a force and everyone must work together in order to set free from that force. Society must realize these problems and if they don’t act, no opposition team can solve the problems on its own whether it is strong or weak. After all, we must understand that this is not only necessary for the oppositionists. Besides, the oppositionists can solve their problems and live peacefully,” says Mr. Hovakimyan, calling on society to actively participate. So, either the people must stand on their own two feet and be able to “form conceptual and rational authorities”, or continue to live like this. However, it seems as though the people are terrorized. The authorities create an atmosphere where the people are scared of them and they do this by taking oppositionists to the police departments and the cars to the fee areas. As a result, there are few people at the opposition meetings. But Andranik Hovakimyan is certain that the people are not scared at all. As proof of that, he brings up the total boycott on November 27. “Society is not scared. The people made their decision as a whole on November 27 and it was apparent that the people are filled with disgust towards the authorities and are indifferent. The last time I saw a boycott like that was during the Soviet era. During the first years of the Armenian National Movement, when the Soviet army set foot in Yerevan, we announced that Yerevan was a “dead city” for one day. November 27 was a day like that,” recalls vice president of the administrative wing of the ANM. According to him, the authorities “cynically” falsified the referendum results and “betrayed the state and the nation”. Now, international organizations will use this “abnormality” as a means to pressure Armenia regarding the Karabagh peace settlement, especially since 2006 is the best time to solve the conflict. Both Karabagh and Armenia can no longer postpone the status-quo. “Delaying the Karabagh peace settlement is the only way that both Kocharyan and Aliyev can keep power. They have come to the point where they will be forced to sign a document. That is why international organizations are pretty diplomatic towards the abnormalities and are not evaluating anything,” concludes A. Hovakimyan and adds: “In 2006, there are no elections neither in Armenia, nor Azerbaijan, nor the U.S., nor the Russian Federation, nor France, so it is the best time to peacefully solve the Karabagh conflict. There will be no side conflicts. Kocharyan and Aliyev can not say that there are elections in their countries, or if they do this then that will happen.” According to Hovakimyan, time is against Armenians. If any document gets signed regarding the Karabagh peace settlement, that will never be in favor of Armenia, especially since Armenia has always ceded in the Karabagh conflict during Kocharyan’s term as president.