March 9, 2007

Raffi Hovannisian: The Imperative of Equal Campaign Conditions

Yerevan—The “Friday” Press Club today hosted a news conference of Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and founder of the Heritage Party. He was accompanied by Armenia’s first Ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdian and school principal Anahit Bakhshian, the second and fourth candidates on Heritage’s proportional list for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In his opening statement, Hovannisian focused on the immediate imperative for equal campaign conditions in all fields. Free, fair, and democratic elections require, in Hovannisian’s words, the fulfillment of three conditions: Access to public sites necessary for the exercise of free assembly; the enforcement of campaign finance limits; and access to print and broadcast media.

These remarks were delivered to a room full of newspaper reporters and radio journalists. Television representatives, with the lone exception of Yerkir Media, were absent, suggesting that, only 63 days before parliamentary elections, the TV blockade against Heritage is still in force. Letters of inquiry sent by the party to the prime minister, mayors of all Armenian cities, directors of billboard associations, and executives of television networks have received no responses to date.

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YEREVAN, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Today everybody, from the ruling forces to strongest opposing one, speaks about the necessity of holding free elections. But, as "Zharangutiun" (Heritage) party founder Raffi Hovannisian stated at the March 9 press conference, to turn speech into deed, all parties must immediately be given equal conditions first of all to communicate with the society with the help of media, and in the second turn, to solve organization issues. He stated that at present the Zharangutiun" party is not given possibility to open offices in the marzes and to get halls for meetings with the people.

Touching upon not uniting of the Armenian opposition, R.Hovannisian mentioned that the life is ahead, and unification of opposing forces may happen both after the parliamentary elections and on the threshold of the 2008 president's elections.

He also mentioned that during the recent months the majority of Armenian TV companies persistently does not cover his press conferences, and the Public Television selectively broadcasts only unsuccessful frames. R.Hovannisian sent a "brotherly and civil" greeting to those who attemp to arise problems of the human rights, particularly, of protection of the right of liberty of expression in international instances. In his words, those instances are really interested in holding free and fear elections in Armenia. "I want such a generation of journalists which, estimating its own independence, will stand upper the level of instructions and orders," R.Hovannisian said.