Find time and read the Constitution

23/01/2008 Lilit SEYRANYAN

– Could you tell us about the incident that took place with you and LS pre-election headquarter chairwoman Heghine Bisharyan at National Press Club recently?

– There was no incident, just the LS representative tried to do the same as their party has been doing and tried to give incorrect information and I just had to remind her about the Constitution. After her hot speech it seemed to me that they hadn’t even found any time to read the Constitution. On the other hand, I think that at least Mher Shahgeldyan, who was the head of the pre-election headquarter during the Constitutional referendum, would explain to his party member that broadcasting of the activities of the prime minister and the government by TV companies cannot be governed by the wishes and ambitions of their party. Certainly we are happy that the LS pre-election headquarter is fairly calculating for how many times the prime minister has been shown on TV, but I think that Mher Shahgeldyan would have don a good job for their party if he did some training for their party members and explained to them that the PM is also a presidential candidate and it doesn’t mean that his official visits and activities must not be covered by TV companies. By the way, when Arthur Baghdasaryan was the NA speaker, the LS did not complain about the fact that his official activities were being covered by Mass Media. Thus, it is not good to combine own wishes and facts and based on that mixture make analysis. This is the entire incident that happened there.
 
– By the way, Heghine Bisharyan says that 170 thousand passports have been printed, which witnesses the fact that the elections will be violated again. She also says that community heads are complaining that the ARP forces them to provide 90% votes for them.

 
– One can speak whatever he/she wants, but he/she can’t exaggerate the facts to the extent of making them absurd. According to their logics, those young voters, who have reached the corresponding age, should not be given passports as this fact is accepted by Arthur Baghdasaryan and his supporters otherwise. As for intimidation on community heads, I don’t think that any ARP or PA member community head would go to LS representatives and complain to them about any intimidation on the part of ARP. Of course it is good to have a good imagination, but not for presidential candidates. The stories about intimidation on community heads are not serious.
 
– LS members believes that the main competitors in the second round will be Serzh Sargsyan and Arthur Baghdasaryan as the results of different surveys show that these two candidates have leading positions.

– It turns out that the Legal State party members have not only bright imagination, but also telepathic petitions to Nostradamus or Vanga because they have already decided that the elections will proceed in two rounds. I wouldn’t be so optimistic if I were in their place.
 
– What can you say about the rumors in the press that there are controversies within the PA and some powers in the PA are against the decision to support PM Serzh Sargsyan?

 
– There are no separate parts in “Prosperous Armenia” party and the decision to support Serzh Sargsyan has been made collectively and jointly. After the parliamentary elections it was envisaged in the coalition memorandum that during the presidential elections the ARP and PA would support one joint candidate and thus it wasn’t a secret that the mentioned candidate would be Serzh Sargsyan. Certainly I understand what the goal of such small intrigues is, but I can assure that the mentioned intrigue cannot have any campaign success. “Prosperous Armenia” is working for the purposes of Serzh Sargsyan’s victory and we will win.