Epress.am News from Armenia
If fair elections are held then no political party can hold the majority of seats in parliament and in political terms, today’s opposition parties will be ahead, said Heritage Party MP Armen Martirosyan, speaking to journalists in the Armenian capital today.
Asked who he sees in parliament after the 2012 elections, the opposition MP said he doesn’t rule out the possibility of new parties winning seats in parliament.
“But we see that the ruling parties, let me put it this way, have begun to openly, bluntly and even harshly take advantage of [their] administrative resources. In this case still nothing gives us hope that we will have [free and] fair elections,” he said.
Martirosyan described how his Heritage Party wanted to hold one of its meetings in a school auditorium but was denied on the grounds that, according to law, such events can’t be held in schools as schools cannot be made partisan.
“But now, during this lively period, with flags, insignia in schools, the prime minister, under his patronage, distributing party tickets in the presence of high-ranking officials — no one says that this is a strict violation of the law; that is to say, such practice is undoubtedly far from the idea of free and fair elections,” he said.
In the deputy’s opinion, parliamentary elections’ developments have begun much earlier and are now accelerating.
Last week’s dismissals of high-ranking officials, Martirosyan continued, falls exclusively within the logic of pre-election activity and further dismissals can be expected.
The culmination of these developments, in his opinion, will be in the actual campaign period, during the last month before elections. The MP added that the rearranging of positions will be both among the ruling elite and the opposition.
At this time, Martirosyan mentioned, the Heritage Party intends to run on its own in the parliamentary elections, but doesn’t exclude the option of joining with another party or parties in an alliance.