May 15, 2007

The Triumph of Heritage

Yerevan—Today, May 15, Raffi K. Hovannisian, Larisa Alaverdian, and party spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian answered questions from the media at the capital’s Golden Tulip Hotel, where the Forum Club had invited a press conference. The dozens of print, electronic, and television journalists who packed the meeting hall were primarily interested in Heritage’s viewpoint on the parliamentary elections of May 12.

“In spite of the markedly unequal conditions before and during the campaign season and the large-scale violations registered on election day, Heritage prevailed,” Hovannisian said, noting that the party’s officially-recorded 6 percent result reflects but one third of its actual electorate. Even with the 6 percent, however, Hovannisian pledged to protect and represent the interests of his entire constituency and, indeed, every Armenian citizen. As to persisting questions on the findings of international observers, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that May 12 was a test not for the international community, but for Armenia itself. “We will take every step, exhaust every option, and pursue every measure to ensure that Armenia’s next elections will be finally free, fair, and transparent,” he said.

Consistent with Heritage’s campaign credo, Hovannisian now officially called for the removal of all party flags, logos, and symbols from governmental buildings. “Our town halls, our cultural centers, our public parks are not the property of one person or party; they belong to the the entire Armenian people,” he said, vowing to excise the personal from the political for the ultimate creation of a government rooted in and authorized by the national will.