US Ambassador didn’t answer why till now the US President Obama hadn’t congratulated
On the occasion of the conduct of presidential elections of February 18 and the developments that followed it, 168-Zham asked a few questions to the US Ambassador to Armenia John Haffern.
-Mr. Haffern, despite a few evident violations, such as exaggerated voter lists, electoral bribery, ballot stuffing, the OSCE/ODIHR has already named the last elections positive. “The February 18 presidential elections as a whole were well-organized and were characterized by the respect of basic rights,” reads their report. But the society called this statement political and a number of activists have organized a protest during the press conference. What is your opinion about the presidential elections and their outcomes?
-We congratulate the Armenian people on the occasion of the February 18 presidential elections, which according to international monitors, were mostly in line with democratic standards and were marked by the freedom of speech and assemblies. The OSCE/ODIHR, which is a prominent election monitoring organization in Europe, mentioned that the mass media outlets have provided equal access to all candidates. We agree with the positive evaluation of the ODIHR. In the meantime, we share the concerns of the ODIHR in regard of the use of administrative resources, which didn’t allow us to draw a line between the campaign of statesmen and their official work. There were also cases of serious violations, such as attempts of pressure on the free will of voters. During the post-election period, the US and all the other international counterparts in Armenia will continue following the processes of complaints. We’d also ask the stakeholders to keep calm and be more reserved.
-A few days ago there was information on the Internet that you have urged the Armenian authorities not to conceal the wave of violations and agree with the opposition to go on the second round. But the authorities have turned down your urge by agreeing that there were violations but those didn’t affect the election outcome. “In his turn, the Ambassador hinted that in the event of refusing to accept compromises, the government would have to face serious consequences, which would mean that Serzh Sargsyan wouldn’t last till the end of his presidency,” reports the source. How would you comment on this?
-This story and the assumptions that I made statements are not true.
-What do you think about the crowded protests taking place in Armenia? What results do you think they’d bring?
-Both during this election cycle and in the past we have always been supporters of quiet and evolutional changes. We haven’t endorsed or criticized any of the parties or candidates. We welcome the fact that during the campaign period all the candidates conducted peaceful but active campaigns and demonstrated respect to each other. It’s also great to see that the opposition peacefully conducts its protest and the police politely follows the process. As we all know, Mr. Hovhannisian has appealed the results of elections at the Central Electoral Commission and the CEC reviews the protest in the defined regulation. We respect the Armenian laws and think that we should all wait for the end of the process.
By Aram Sargsyan
P.S. The US Ambassador didn’t answer two key questions. By the first question we’d like to know why the US President Barack Obama hadn’t yet congratulated Serzh Sargsyan on the re-election unlike the Russian President Vladimir Putin. We have asked what the reason of that is. Maybe Raffi Hovhannisian, who is a carrier of liberal values, is more desirable for the US? By the second question we tried to find out whether Ambassador John Haffern has attempted to meet Serzh Sargsyan after elections. But this question remained without a response too.
