The king and the peddler

19/04/2012

“In district 4 of Arabkir community, besides a range of state structures the RA President’s office is also occupied with helping the owner of SAS Group Artak Sargsyan conduct his pre-election campaign,” a candidate of the same district Satik Seyranyan told our reporter. “Recently the chief of staff of RA President Vigen Sargsyan threatened and ordered a few businessmen not to ever say a negative word about Artak Sargsyan. This means that the government makes the people not only work for the candidate but also forbids them to express their opinions even among a narrow circle of people. I am brining this example to draw a better picture of what elections we are expecting in this district and how the state machine works in helping their candidates get elected. The problem in this case is not my victory as an MP but the fact that the President’s office gets to deal with such issues. It means that the structures that according to the constitution are supposed to deal with the foreign policy of the country, defense and national security issues protect the interests of a group of peddlers,” said Seyranyan.