During the January 17 meeting of Robert Kocharyan and John Evans, the latter announced that in Washington DC and everywhere else people are seriously concerned about the Constitutional Referendum, which took place on November 27. Therefore, the US cannot confirm the Challenges of the Millennium program until the RA government has not proved to the US government that Armenia remains loyal to the principles of democracy and that the country is ready to conduct free, fair and transparent elections in 2007-2008. NA Deputy-Speaker Tigran Torosyan thinks that the shortcomings of the referendum that were included in the Council of Europe report cannot have a direct influence on Armenia. We asked him whether the US threat is its consequence or not. “To be honest, it’s one thing what the US Ambassador has talked about with the RA President. It’s another thing that it’s obvious that there is a great need for Armenians to conduct free elections in 2007-2008.”, said Mr. Torosyan and added, “I am sure that we lost a great chance during the referendum to prove that Armenia is able to conduct elections that correspond to international standards. Unfortunately, it was not like that. So, it’s natural that the coming elections are very important for us. It is going to be a very serious challenge for Armenia. This issue is important both for internal politics, foreign relations and particularly, the Karabagh conflict”.
