Presidential Candidate Registration

Various news sources report that more candidates have come forward to contest the 19 February presidential election in Armenia. Others have been rejected or have seemingly come out of nowhere, but the main news is that veteran opposition politician Vazgen Manukian’s nomination has been put forward by his National Democratic Union party. RFE/RL reports that Manukian took the opportunity to again attack both the current and previous president.

Widely considered to have actually won the 1996 election that saw Levon Ter Petrosian secure a second term in office, Manukian said that there is no difference between the two regimes which have controlled Armenia since Independence was declared in 1991. Indeed, RFE/RL quotes him as saying, the system of corruption and falsified elections is the same.

Speaking at the congress of his National-Democratic Union (AZhM), Manukian urged both political forces and the public “to rally around ideas rather than personalities”, which he said is the only guarantee of success.

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“1998 was conditioned by 1996, the October 27 [parliamentary killings] are conditioned by 1998, the banners at the 2007 election,” Manukian charged.

He went on to say that despite the “power change” made in 1997, the system remained the same.

“Electoral mechanisms in Armenia do not work and the power is still concentrated in the hands of a small number of people,” Armenia’s ex-premier said.

Vazgen Manoukian, Opposition Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Manukian is widely respected in Armenia, but most consider his time to have passed. Nevertheless, because he commands respect, his words indirectly criticizing Ter Petrosian might well resonate among many voters. Last week Manukian warned that while many Armenians dislike Serzh Sarkisian, the favorite to win the presidential race, many more dislike former president Ter Petrosian.

“They are putting the people in a very difficult situation because the majority of the people do not accept either party,” Manukian told a news conference. “There are people who consider Levon Ter-Petrosian the lesser evil but there are also many, many people who consider Serzh Sarkisian the lesser evil. And I don’t exclude that if Levon Ter-Petrosian and Serzh Sarkisian go into the second round Serzh Sarkisian will emerge as a legitimate president.”

“I think [Ter-Petrosian] should not have nominated his candidacy in the first place,” he said.

Regardless, if Ter Petrosian does make it into a second round he too might be forced to choose between the “lesser of two evils,” although his tactic in the past has been to urge a boycott of elections as was the case for the May parliamentary election. Another political figure known more controversially for his boycott of the second round of the 2003 presidential election, however, is also reported to be facing dissent from within party ranks for yesterday’s criticism of Ter Petrosian.

At least three leaders of local chapters have resigned their membership in Artashes Geghamian’s National Accord Party (AMK) after the latter’s blistering attack on the former president during a party meeting on Tuesday.

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The AMK leadership fiercely attacked Ter-Petrosian on Tuesday as the party officially nominated Geghamian as its presidential candidate. Geghamian also significantly toned down his criticism of the Armenian government. Risking more accusations of secret collaboration with the authorities, Geghamian revealed that he has met with President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian recently to discuss the upcoming election.

Grigorian charged that Geghamian is in fact “working for the authorities to split the opposition” and said he no longer wanted to participate in the “dirty games”.

Artashes Geghamian, Opposition Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Nevertheless, A1 Plus reports that Geghamian was the first candidate to be registered by the Central Election Commission (CEC). The same media outlet also reports that there are now 10 candidates who have submitted documents to OVIR to have their citizenship officially recognized for acceptance by the CEC. Despite some surprises in the names mentioned, and not least an adviser to the President of the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, one interesting development is that Aram Karapetian’s eligibility has been rejected.

The Passport and Visa Department of the RA Police denied New Times Party (NZhK) leader Aram Karapetian a certificate of RA citizenship over the recent ten years.

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The NZhK leader is going to sue the CEC for illegal decision. Aram Karapetian is determined to run for presidency and he will submit all the necessary documents to the CEC, the NZhK press secretary reports.

This is interesting because in the 2003 presidential election Karapetian was registered as a candidate despite not fulfilling the 10 year residency and citizenship requirement for running. Many suspected him of secretly collaborating with the authorities, but after backing the main opposition candidate in the second round of the 2003 vote, that soon changed. Karapetian’s nomination for the parliamentary election three months later was rejected because OVIR then declared that he did not meet the five-year requirement for that vote.

Aram Karapetian, Opposition Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004