Dashnak Youth Campaign for Vahan Hovannisian

This weekend saw the last two days of campaigning for Tuesday’s presidential election in Armenia and it was always going to be busy. Yesterday, former president Levon Ter-Petrossian rallied his people in Liberty Square before the prime minister held his this afternoon. Elsewhere, another candidate, Tigran Karapetian, rallied a few hundred at the Matenadaran while Artur Baghdasarian had to settle for Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri given that he couldn’t do so yesterday and the Yerevan municipality didn’t grant him permission to hold a rally in the center of the capital today.

Becoming tired of all these rallies which usually don’t amount to much more than mutual mudslinging and playing the numbers game, it was nice to start the day with a rally by a few hundred youth from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) affiliated Nikol Aghbalian Student Union. Marching in red jackets to recorded ARF songs blaring from a loudspeaker attached to an accompanying van, the young Dashnaks walked from Komitas to the Moscow Cinema in the city center, passing out campaign leaflets for the ARF-D candidate, Vahan Hovannisian.

More impressively, they did it without malice, without hate. They campaigned in high spirits, in song, and with smiles on their faces — something that is not common here, but very welcomed to say the least. Indeed, the action was just another positive development introduced into Armenia by the party which has already set a precedent for mature campaigning and the use of Western style pre-election tactics. Whether it will help them at the polls is another matter, of course, but it makes a change from the deeply depressing and boring mass rallies favored by most of the other candidates.

Although only Yerkir Media and myself appeared to cover the march itself, outlets such as A1 Plus were there, although I think there was maybe 200 students, at the final destination to hear Hovannisian speak to the assembled youth in one of the main halls of the Moscow cinema. Interestingly, and somewhat reminiscent of Georgia, the Dashnak’s have taken to raising their hands with fingers outstretched to represent the number “5″ indicating Hovannisian’s position on the ballot paper.

On February 17 “Nikol Aghbalian” Student Union affiliated with the Armenian Revolution Federation (ARF Dashnaktsutiun) held a march in the centre of Yerevan. They were holding ARF flags and shouting, “Our Vahan,” “Vahan-President,” “Dashnaktsutiun.”

Over 100 students dressed in ARF jackets distributed flyers and persuaded people to vote for ARF Leader Vahan Hovhannissian.

In his addressing speech ARF member Ara Nranian caused confusion saying that “Dashnaktsutiun is a young party.” Hrant Margarian helped his friend adding “the party was founded by young people. The party stands out with qualities characteristic of the youth, such as boldness, vivacity, etc.”

Of course, the ARF-D and Hovannisian aren’t the only ones with their own youth campaigners. Also out in force today were members of the sometimes controversial MIAK who were campaigning for Serge Sargsyan. Still, at least they were also going about their propagandizing with smiles on their faces, but it’s interesting to note that of all the candidates it is Hovannisian, Sargsyan and Artur Baghdasarian who have truly understood the importance of having a youthful face presenting them on the streets and at pre-election campaign rallies.

Photos: © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008