– During the last several elections you have appeared in the proportional lists of different parties – PPA, National Unity and now the “Alliance” party. What’s the reason of that? Why don’t you remain in one party?
– First time I was elected deputy in 1999 and was the closest loyalist of Karen Demirchyan. In 1998 we together founded the PPA and I was the second in the party. During three months the PPA was developed and had 40.000 members. Those members were true members. At present people don’t even know that they are party members. They only gather signatures. I have stayed next to Demirchyan till the end. I left PPA in 2000 because I had certain disagreements with the new PPA chairman at that time and decided to leave the party for that. They were doing their best to keep their chairs and I wasn’t agreeing with that. I have been a politician for over 7 years and am free in terms of making decisions and joining parties. The party and the fact to who you belong must be differentiated.
– You have always been in the opposition front. Why have you decided to take the ticket of the Alliance which is supposed to be a pro-government party?
– I categorically oppose this evaluation. In fact there are garbled approaches about political processes in our country. An oppositionist doesn’t mean someone, who curses all the time. Opposition means offering alternative programs and ideas. The opposition is not the ones, who strive to achieve power just for money and opportunities. Meanwhile opposition is not the ones, who leave the people on the middle of the street and run from the protest. The purpose of those ones, who try to do that is just to create an image. Now several oppositionists say that it’s a great thing that the opposition has never been united. The reason is that if united they would have less airing time to attack the government. They very often use the words – “leave”, “die”, “hatred”. We know that during the past elections 25% of votes were lost because those were given to parties, which were not able to overcome the 5% barrier. The political research shows that this time this percentage is going to be 40-45% instead of 25%.
– Will the Alliance, which is also going to participate separately during elections, expose the government during the free airing?
– We are going to be applying all kinds of campaign technologies and criticism is going to be means for us to offer our alternatives.
– Is exposing the government not one of those methods?
– Yes it’s one of the means. We are going to do what’s necessary to explain to our people the reality. We don’t have a purpose to expose or attack anybody. Of course we will not use black PR.
– So will the chair of the party, Samvel Babayan attempt to criticize the government?
– Of course in his speeches he will be doing harsh criticism and will expose certain politicians. That’s how we are going to prove that we belong to the opposition unlike other fake oppositionists.
– You always use the phrase “fake opposition”. Can you elucidate to our people, who you mean?
– Our society is very careful and doesn’t need such cheap prompts. I speak as a political scientist, who always prefers to speak directly about processes instead of teetering. The fake oppositionists are the ones, who by criticizing, are trying to disguise their own crimes.
– Don’t you think that our society is conscious enough to differentiate the Alliance from the real opposition?
– Of course it is and they perfectly know that our party is an oppositional party and offers concrete alternatives. The people, who are supporting this political party are now suffering in jail – Zhirayr Sefilyan, Vardan Malkhasyan and others. The society knows that Hovhannisyan has always been backing up those political prisoners. Everybody knows about this by the interviews of Babayan.
– The Alliance hasn’t anyhow reacted on the rumors, by which Babayan had been persecuted by the NSS. Do you know any information whether those rumors are truthful or not?
– First the rumors that Babayan had an unregistered gun are not truthful.
– The accusation was directed to the NSS not the assumption that he had a gun or not.
– There was no weapon. It was just an attempt to ascribe some deed to us, which we are not guilty of. All these are attempts to intimidate and psychologically oppress the oppositionists of our country. They want to make them be more moderate in their activity. The problem was that the NSS hasn’t correctly estimated the abilities of the Alliance. It unites strong and courageous people, who will not ever give up.
– Are you not concerned about the data of the social polls, according to which the Alliance gains only 1% support?
– It’s not like that. Besides that the social polls cannot outline the actual number and preferences of our electorate. We have a strong team. When I was at the PPA I was able to establish a social ground for PPA by recruiting a considerable number of members. The voters of our Alliance are the citizens of Armenia and we know what percentage of them is actually going to vote for us. The polls, which have been conducting among 10-15 people from each neighborhood, cannot possibly show the real situation. Our party is a national one. That’s why we are not inclined to believing in such assumptions.
– You have compared the Alliance with the PPA but forgot about the factor of Karen Demirchyan. How can you compare Demirchyan to Babayan?
– The comparison is very correct. If Demirchyan was uniting the ambitions of the people of the 2nd republic Babayan is doing the same during the formation of the third republic.
– Karen Demirchyan was beloved by people.
– Babayan is also beloved by people.
– What people? We mean the parliamentary elections.
– By Armenian people. I am an innate of Yerevan and Babayan is an innate of Karabagh, Yerevan, Lori, Gavar, etc.
– How come?
– Yes, he’s a national hero just like Demirchyan Karen.
– Don’t you overestimate Babayan?
-It’s impossible to overestimate national heroes.