“Time doesn’t work on behalf of Armenia. It’s an outdated approach to connect the development of the county with economic indexes. The real comparison must be made among the neighboring countries of the region. In this regard not only don’t we have progress but also we are regressing. Under these circumstance only the free and fair Parliamentary Elections could provide essential improvement, by creating credibility among people and an environment of a healthy competition. But it’s not going to be so in 2007. If there is any evolution process in Armenia it’s only the professionalism of falsifying elections and perfection of hiding it, which destroys the political field of Armenia from election to election and creates an environment of despair and disappointment among people,” says the chairman of the NDU, Vazgen Manukyan. He believes that under these circumstances the wisest thing would be not to represent as many oppositionists as possible in the NA but the rapid change of the situation. In this regard, Manukyan thinks that either 7-8 political forces of Armenia must unite and change the government through elections or a political bloc must have been formed with ideological similarities, which due to trust and credibility on the part of people, would be able to improve the current situation. But this is supposed to be done not only through the campaign of separate famous people but also through a joint team by applying effective mechanisms – work in every single precinct during elections. “Unfortunately we were not able to do so.” “It’s impossible to fight against a strong army with only several fighting groups. We must establish an army with all its structures. Thus, if it’s not formed there is no point to participate in the Parliamentary elections – neither via proportional nor via majoritarian systems. Meanwhile, however, we are going to keep track of the electoral procedures in all districts.” Manukyan is concerned that although the main part of the electorate is opposition-oriented the government will succeed in providing the current representation in the Parliament after the elections. “But NDU is going to fight anyway,” says the announcement of Manukyan.
