Epress.am News from Armenia
Protection of electoral rights in Armenia will provide all other political and civil rights, said Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) member Armen Rustamyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today about the party’s new initiative called “the right to vote.”
The movement, according to him, seeks to affirm the power of people through realizing the right to vote.
“Examining our past experience, post-election tension, and, why not, domestic clashes at different periods, we set a goal. This is a political problem, to realize a change of power,” he said, adding, this will be possible without clashes and a “bloodless revolution,” due to large public mobilization.
This idea, according to Rustamyan, can mobilize all the political forces that truly have an interest in protecting the right to vote. “It doesn’t matter for whom, in the end, the voter votes. The main thing is that he, above all, made a choice and voted.”
The ARF-D member also noted the widespread perverse effects in the electoral system have led to the fact that the voter do not place importance on his voice, sells it or gives in to pressure.
“Naturally, it’s the government that makes use of that. Preventing self-perpetuation of power and counterbalancing the authorities’ so-called unbridled control on electoral processes can be implemented only through creating a broad democratic movement,” he said.
Rustamyan noted that their movement should develop a separate strategy in three stages:
“First, prior to the elections stage, all this work must be carried out in order to first explain the significance of the right to vote. The second stage is the actual day of elections: everything must be done, considering all available resources, to record violations at polling stations. The third stage is post-elections: based on this, it is necessary to have the opportunity to appeal the results,” he explained.