- Title: ARMENIA: Country to hold presidential elections as scheduled
- Date: 13th February 2013
- Summary: POLICE AND EMERGENCY WORKERS STANDING OUTSIDE TENT OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES POLITICAL ANALYST AND MANAGER OF PRIVATE RADIO STATION "HAY", ANDREAS GHUKASYAN, ON HUNGER STRIKE POSTERS READING IN ARMENIAN AND ENGLISH: STOP FAKE ELECTIONS VARIOUS OF GHUKASYAN DURING HUNGER STRIKE GROUP OF PEOPLE STANDING AT POSTERS READING IN ARMENIAN AND ENGLISH: STOP FAKE ELECTIONS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, LEADER OF NATIONAL ACCORD PARTY ARAM HARUTYUNYAN DURING HUNGER STRIKE BOTTLE WITH WATER ON BENCH ARAM HARUTYUNYAN TALKING TO SUPPORTERS STREET SCENE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) YEREVAN RESIDENT NIKOLAI, SAYING: "I personally think that the elections will not lead to changes in power though I hope there will be changes for better, as life is getting better in a way." PEOPLE IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) YEREVAN RESIDENT ARMEN DAVTYIAN, SAYING: "I do not think it is rational to participate in this farce."
- Embargoed: 28th February 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Azerbaijan
- City:
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9CQCFSZRVEKZRX9300C3XANSU
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Armenia is set to hold its presidential election on February 18, with incumbent president Serzh Sarksyan deemed to win with no strong competition on the political scene of the ex-Soviet South Caucasus country that borders Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia.
President Serzh Sarksyan's first election term in 2008 was marred by protest, gathering thousands of people in 3.3 million landlocked country claiming elections were rigged, while Western observers called the elections broadly fair.
February election was put under threat when a gunman wounded amid election campaign an outsider in the race candidate, Paruyr Hayrikyan.
He could have asked the Constitutional Court for a two-week postponement of the February 18th vote, which would have raised the prospect of instability in republic, in the volatile South Caucasus region, that carries oil and natural gas to Europe, but Hayrikyan did not use his right.
Stability is vital to the nation to woo investors and boost an economy struggling with regional isolation and the effects of a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in the 1990s.
Violence flared after Sarksyan's election in 2008, leaving 10 people dead when police clashed with supporters of former president and opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan who protested for days in the streets of the capital. The government had to impose state of emergency during the unrest.
Sarksyan took over the country in a volatile South Caucasus region with simmering territorial conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan and frozen ties with Turkey. None of the problems have been fully resolved during his first presidential term.
Armenia is squeezed between Turkey and Azerbaijan in a region that is emerging as an important transit route for oil exports from the Caspian Sea to world markets, though Armenia has no pipelines of its own.
Analysts say the unresolved conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh could flare again into violence, possibly threatening a BP-led oil pipeline that runs next to the conflict zone.
In the upcoming vote Sarksyan is widely expected to win his next term without no apparent strong competition.
"When you tick a name of a politician in the ballot list, you are choosing his political programme, you are choosing a certain approach to Armenia's future, you are choosing a certain political team," Sarksyan said in his address to supporters during election campaign in Yerevan.
Armenia's Central Election Commission has registered eight presidential candidates but one of them, National Consent party leader Aram Harutyunyan submitted a withdrawal notice to the Central Electoral Commission after a one-day hunger strike in front of the CEC building.
Independent analyst and head of Centre for Regional Studies, Richard Giragosyan said the outcome of the election is predictable and no real competition exists on the political scene.
"Unfortunately politics in Armenia is still dominated by personalities, not policies, there is little choice and little voice for the average Armenian voter. So unfortunately, we are in a disappointing and depressing state of politics as we approach the coming election," Giragosyan told Reuters.
Only two presidential candidates out of seven are seen as serious political figures, and one of them is Raffi Hovannisyan, the leader of opposition Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party and the first foreign minister of independent Armenia.
Raffi Hovannisyan, 53-year old U.S. - born Armenian politician started his campaign with a rally in central Yerevan, and promised his supporters to win.
"Our challenge is for the first time in the twenty years to have a de jure presidency and for the Armenians to say yes, it is possible, it is possible to break the conflict of interests, the one party rule that Armenia has suffered for so long and finally to give the average citizen the right to a future, the right to belong to the political process," Hovannisyan told supporters, before leaving the capital to campaign in the regions.
Hrant Bagratyan, a 54-year old politician, was a prime minister in post-independent Armenia and is remembered as successful reformist of the country's economy, although independent analyst Giragosyan, said none of the candidates have any chance to win.
Among the candidates is an Armenian folklore historian Vardan Sedrahyan. One of the opposition figures he had said he would fight till the end.
Another presidential candidate, political analyst and manager of a private radio station "Hay", Andreas Ghukasyan, has been on hunger strike since January calling the upcoming election to be a fake. "Stop Fake Elections", read the poster next to his tent in central Yerevan.
Aram Harutyunyan, the candidate who submitted a withdrawal notice after a one-day hunger strike in front of the CEC building, also urged all other candidates to join him in withdrawing from the presidential race and leave their key rival Serzh Sargsyan alone.
Two strongest political figures in Armenia - the wealthy businessman and a leader of Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagig Tsarukyan and former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan - refrained from participating in the February polls or supporting any other candidate.
Yerevan residents seemed divided about Monday polls.
"I personally think that the elections will not lead to changes in power, though I hope there will be changes for better as life is getting better in a way," Yerevan resident Nikolai said.
Some, like Armen Davtyan, said they were not going to participate at all, calling the outcome predictable.
"I do not think it is rational to participate in this farce," said Armen Davtyan.
Incumbent President Sarksyan, if elected, will have to face the challenges he could not solve during his first presidential term including frozen conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan, threatening to melt.
The conflict between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the area, a mountainous enclave within Azerbaijan but with a majority Armenian population, which Armenian-backed forces seized along with seven surrounding Azeri districts.
A truce was signed in 1994, but there was no peace treaty. Violence still flares sporadically along the ceasefire line and Azerbaijan's border with Armenia, underlining the risk of a conflict in the South Caucasus, where Turkey, Russia and Iran have interests.
The enclave of about 160,000 people has run its own affairs with heavy Armenian military and financial backing since the war. Oil-producing Azerbaijan often threatens to take it back by force, though it says it favours diplomacy.
The three countries, known as the Minsk Group, have led years of mediation under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Armenia has a security agreement with Russia while Azerbaijan has one with Turkey. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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