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.
Prior to the presidential elections of February 18 the number one opposition party of Armenia was the ANC and number one opposition leader was Levon Ter-Petrosyan. All the hopes of conducting revolution and changing the country were connected to him. After the presidential elections the situation drastically changes in the country and Raffi Hovhannisian takes on the role of the opposition and his Heritage party.
Serzh Sargsyan received 861,160 votes, which is 58.64% of the total votes. Raffi Hovhannisyan received 539,672 votes, which is 36.75%. The difference between the numbers of votes received by Serzh Sargsyan and Raffi Hovhannisyan is 276,438. However, if we take into account the votes that went to the other five candidates and also the ballots that were marked invalid on purpose with different words and pictures on them, the difference will be 203,000 votes.
Since Levon Ter-Petroyan’s announcement about reorganizing the Armenian National Congress and converting it into a new organization 168 Hours applied to Ararat Zurabyan, ANM board president 2002-2010, to ask for comments about the first president’s announcement. Mr. Zurabyan’s answer is below:
The death attempt organized against Paruyr Hayrikyan a few days ago may radically change the political situation not only in Armenia but also around it. The question “who would benefit from this?” was asked many times and hundreds of different answers were given.
A member of Karabakh committee Ashot Manucharyan also adverted to this matter. He along with Hayrikyan was one of the activists of foundation of Armenia. When speaking of the incident, Manucharyan first of all drew attention to the internal situation of Armenia, by mentioning that it is the Achilles Heel of our country.
In case of terror against politicians usually governments are the first target for critics. I am sure that this incident was not in the interest of first of all president Sargsyan. But is the government Sargsyan only? Aren’t there any other groups that might be interested in changing the status-quo and generate instability? I am not informed of the structure of the powers within the government and I cannot make conclusions.
The Russian National Democratic Party, known with its nationalistic ideology, has launched signature collection campaign for the purpose of adopting visa regime for Russia and South Caucasus with Middle Eastern countries.
Interview with the director of Mkhitar Sebastatsi education complex Ashot Bleyan, who during Hrant Bagratyan’s tenure in 1994-1995 held the post of minister of education.
Foreign investments share in the actives of the Armenian banking system is 67%. This information was published in a report of the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) on economic freedoms in the banking systems of 180 countries.
