“The faked elections and the violence in the post-election period resulted in the tragic events of March 1. People had come to the Square to voice their protest. The rallies were mainly peaceful and the rumors of the use of arms are groundless,” leader of the People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) Stepan Demirchyan said to A1+. Demirchyan reminded that after the 2003 election both the European Council and the PPA demanded to call the wrongdoers to responsibility. “But no effort has been taken in this connection. Today’s events are the outcome of this permissiveness. According to him the point is that the authorities resorted to repression; they applied various “technologies” starting from election rigging to violence. The authorities should realize that they cannot overcome the crisis with such measures. They only deepen the gap between the authorities and society. The authorities have problems with the society and they shouldn’t indulge in self-delusion as if they enjoy the confidence of 70 % people. It is not so,” the PPA leader says. He thinks that first of all political pursuits must be stopped, a clear-cut distinction should be made between real criminals and people who simply displayed their political orientation. Wrongdoers must be punished. A fair and objective investigation must be launched on the March 1 events. As of the oppositionists’ further steps according to Demirchyan they ought to head the struggle for the sake of people. “We shall struggle till peaceful rallies are sanctioned as the society feels a need for them. The crisis can be averted only through fair elections.” He also noted that the NA doesn’t obviously express the public moods. As of the opportunity of the dialog then it shouldn’t be used only as a slogan. “Instead legal steps must be taken to reach it.” “At present the government doesn’t take such steps. It is obvious that the overcoming of this political crisis required political solutions. Those are the elimination of political pursuit, repression, illegalities. At present all this is being applied,” said Demirchyan.
