“National Unity” expects 101% victory during the upcoming parliamentary elections. This is what leader of “National Unity” (NU) Artashes Geghamyan announced during a press conference on Friday.
Of course, he said that 101% in a metaphorical sense; better yet, he is 101% sure that NU will have many votes in the future parliament. The NU leader did not mention exact numbers, but assured that 85% of the population is for the opposition. As far as the authorities are concerned, they are trying to bring people to show them that the people trust them.
“But there is no smile on the people’s faces, no sign of happiness. They tickle them from the sides to make them laugh sometimes,” said Mr. Geghamyan.
With that said, he still believes that the pro-government parties will be represented in parliament. From the oppositional parties, Geghamyan hopes to see the Armenian Popular Party, “New Times”, Manuk Gasparyan’s “Democratic Way” party, “Impeachment”, as well as Shavarsh Kocharyan. As far as the chances of Samvel Babayan’s are concerned, Mr. Geghamyan responded that he rates him as a serious, military activist and sees him in the highest levels of the military.
Artashes Geghamyan bases his predictions on the meetings with the electorate and his party’s studies. However, he doesn’t take the surveys conducted by sociologist Aharon Adibekyan or any other survey seriously. While referring to them, Geghamyan made a reference to the words of one of his friends, according to which sociology is one of the exact sciences-the more you pay, the more they write. In general, according to Geghamyan, strong, self-confident people don’t need sociologists and the strength can be seen by the attitudes of the electorate. The NU leader informed that they have had 81 public meetings, which have shown the people’s attitude towards the party. Mr. Geghamyan is also convinced that “National Unity” is the only party which the people only bless and don’t make any negative comments about.
As proof of that, Geghamyan brought up the example of their meeting in the village of Vardenik in the Gegharkunik Marz. When the party members got there, they found out that somebody had died there. They went to the house to express their condolence to the relatives and…I will make a reference to Geghamyan’s words: “I went to the home, and can you picture this? People had placed the corpse on the table, yet were blessing our party.”
The NU leader has found out during his meetings to the Marzes that the voters are not interested in electoral bribes, rather the party platforms. Geghamyan was delighted to see that people were not grabbing bribes from each other’s hands, but rather…the NU anti-crisis platform. In response to one of the journalists’ questions as to when the promised light will shine, Geghamyan responded that the light has already shone and one of the proofs of that is the interest towards the platform.
Journalists asked Geghamyan to comment on the challenge of Aram Z. Sargsyan aimed at him and Stepan Demirchyan, saying one should merely flip a coin. In response to that, Geghamyan said that he has nothing to do with gambling and it would be more correct to point in the direction of the ruling parties. According to the NU leader, they try to cast a shadow on NU with similar announcements and at the same time support Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan. However, Geghamyan doesn’t know whether or not they are doing that on purpose. In response to the announcement made by “Impeachment” that the real oppositionists must unite, Mr. Geghamyan said that it would be better if they recall whom the people will elect out of all of them when there are only a couple of days remaining before elections.
There was a reference made to the story tied to Arthur Baghdasaryan. The “Country of Law” leader, according to Geghamyan, had to go to court. As far as the content of the sound recording is concerned, Mr. Geghamyan did not wish to comment on the “content of a sound recording stuffed under the rug” because “it means to trust the rug”.
In any case, the NU leader mentioned that it is possible to co-operate with all oppositional parties, but only on May 13. He also informed that during their meetings they have called on the voters to go to Yerevan on May 13. If the elections are conducted freely and fairly, then they will all celebrate the victory. But if “adventurism obscures the minds of the authorities” and they falsify the election results, then the celebration will be substituted by the process of punishing the authorities in the strictest manner.