Rallies, Revolution & the Numbers Game

The Armenian Patchwork posts photographs from major rallies staged in Yerevan’s Liberty Square by two of the country’s nine candidates for the 19 February presidential election in Armenia.

On Friday, Vahan Hovannisian and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktrutyun (ARF-D) held theirs and set a precedent for the most Western like as well as a new record for attendance.

What is always peculiar about ARF-D is the number of young Dashnaks, and another thing was that the rally was well organized and easy going. There were no body-guards pushing you away from the stage. Before the rally began Hovhannisyan was walking freely around the Square and even made sure to walk into a nearby café to invite people to the rally.

The following day, former president Levon Ter-Petrossian held his, gathered a few thousand more, and continued along the same “revolutionary” path followed since prematurely starting his pre-election campaign last September.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s rally on 9 Feb gathered a lot more people on Freedom Square this time than it usually did. This was the first time I saw people sitting on the head of Tumanyan’s monument. […] The crowd marched around Yerevan’s central streets after the rally and returned once again to the Square.