The opposition surprised the coalitional political parties during the ombudsman elections. During the new elections, the opposition presented its new candidate-leader of the Constitutional Rights Union and “Justice” alliance MP Hrant Khachatryan. It seems as though this has mixed things up for the authorities and the MPs under the control of the authorities are faced with two choices-either to elect “Kocharyan’s candidate” Armen Harutyunyan as demanded, or their colleague Hrant Khachatryan. This was the topic discussed with ombudsman candidate Hrant Khachatryan.
– There were many discussions among political party members and certain measures had to be taken. True, we were of the opinion that Larisa Alaverdyan was supposed to remain the ombudsman. But after long consideration, nobody nominated her and I decided to take on the responsibility and express my point of views of how an ombudsman should be. In addition, since there was not a lot of time before my speech, I also decided to talk about how the ombudsman should behave in the National Assembly. I showed that and got a positive reaction.
– Some MPs from the coalition said that they were in favor of your nomination, but on the other hand, said that they couldn’t vote for you because they had to do as they were told and were forced to vote for Armen Harutyunyan. Do you consider yourself victorious from this perspective?
– That can’t be my victory. I don’t feel myself neglected in the political field. I was not expecting MPs to get along so well after the discussions and before the second election. I have nothing to say against the coalition for giving me that response. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t expecting anything else, but I thought that I would hear other things. Taking into consideration the potential that an ombudsman should have, the fact that an ombudsman is known by everyone and how predictable he or she is, I decided to play that role and show my point of view of how an ombudsman should be. I think that I have been very honest with the National Assembly and they have been very honest with me. As to what will happen later on, I will do my best to make sure everything goes fine.
– Do you think that the coalition will commit fraud or control the election process for the sake of their candidate? What will you do if that happens?
– It seems as though the person that commits fraud always has an advantage, but I tend to differ. I just consider that as strategy. But if the ombudsman is going to be elected based on fraud, then it’s better that to have no elections at all.
– How do you consider your job with the present day authorities? How do you plan on defending the rights of your fellow oppositionists if, all of a sudden, they are arrested like they have been before?
– I think that there must be some reforms in this field. I don’t mean people, but rather the system. I have to get 79 votes in order to be elected. This means that all the influential parties have to vote for me. If it is supposed that they have to vote for me and make compromises alongside, then you can forget about me being elected. If we are talking about mutual compromises, that is a different story. Who is not aware of the fact that problems are not solved in one day? Who doesn’t know that the ombudsman’s job is not only to make decisions? I am going to do my best. As to how I will work with the authorities, everything is going to be restricted. Of course, I have many things to say but I am not going to get ahead of myself.
– Recently, the opposition became active and said that they are willing to cooperate with the authorities and make compromises if, of course, they elect you as ombudsman. It turns out that the fight between the opposition and the authorities was all about who gets to be ombudsman.
– The opposition has not stopped the boycott. On the contrary, the opposition feels that it can solve many problems concerning the people and the country with the boycott and it plans on fighting against those problems at the National Assembly. The first issue was a test for the opposition and the coalition and it was a little above the political level. As for the fight to see who gets to sit in the big chair, this happens in each country. The political field is all about authorities going at each other’s throats for the chair. What-should we go ahead and list the reasons why they do that? I think that is evident. As for being an ombudsman, how does it differ from being an MP? If it is different because the ombudsman has his own office, then I don’t need it. I have my own office too. However, taking into consideration the fact that I agreed and was nominated quickly, I must say that there is no political game going on here. The “Justice” alliance nominated me based on the situation at hand, but I have stopped expressing my opinions about the political field from that point on. Of course, I would like to see the authorities and the opposition discussing this issue together, which will help raise the National Assembly’s level of individuality. But I am going to leave that up to them, since it is very important to stay neutral in politics.
– One of the oppositionist MPs who voted for Ruben Torosyan as ombudsman during the first elections said that Torosyan’s speech made from the National Assembly podium was more like a means for him to raise his ratings. Can they say the same about you, that you are doing this in order to increase the opposition’s ratings as well as yours before the 2007 elections?
– If I become ombudsman, I will have to leave the party and forget about my mandate. So, I can’t really talk about any rating for the next six years. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t do something like this just for my rating. I really wouldn’t because there have been many times when someone has taken the risk but has gotten a negative reaction. Then your rating goes down. But if it turns out that the coalition and the opposition do not collect the limited 79 number of votes, then that will be a victory not only for the opposition, but also the National Assembly parties. I must say that the only thing we can talk about is individual rating. If I will be able to solve small problems while being an ombudsman under these conditions, then I will add more points to my rating.
– What positions does the opposition have to have in order to stop the meetings and stop the struggle?
– That doesn’t help. The important thing is how it is structured. I was not talking about humanism just for the fun of it. That consolidates human relations. Humanistic principles must be instilled as bases for justice, the political struggle and the Karabagh conflict.