| |
YEREVAN--The Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) kicked off its campaign for the
May 31 Yerevan municipal polls on Monday with a tree planting
ceremony and a campaign rally where the party presented its
election platform.
The ARF, a major election contender with fifty candidates, held
its first campaign rally at Yerevan's largest cinema on Monday,
one week after it pulled out of the ruling coalition in protest
against Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian's conciliatory policy
on Turkey.
The ARF has put forward 50 candidates for the 65 municipal
council seats that will be contested during the election.
Speaking at the rally, the ARF's top candidate, Artsvik Minasian,
presented the party's platform, pledging to make the city's
administrative process more transparent and engaging for its
citizens.
Minasian, a parliament deputy from the ARF, said the party's
platform covers the gamut of issues and problems affecting
Yerevan and its inhabitants, from political alienation to
economic and social equality, as well as the growing level of
population.
He pledged also to end serious restrictions on gatherings and
demonstrations in Yerevan that were put in place following
Armenia's February 2008 presidential election. “We would make
every effort to ensure that those restrictions are not undue and
ludicrous,” said Minasian.
The ARF's election platform also seeks to establish a standing
commission that will exercise oversight over all city government
affairs. Its leadership will be determined by the opposition.
The ARF will also put forward short and long-term programs for
the city's development, as well as “review and optimize” city
staff salaries.
These elections are very significant, according to Armen
Rustamian, the chairman of the ARF's Supreme Body in Armenia,
who also spoke at the rally. “The government and the radical
opposition represent two extremes with the government trying to
diminish the significance of the election and the opposition
trying desperately politicize it for their battle against the
government,” Rustamian said, describing both approaches as
unacceptable for the ARF.
He said the party is running with a team that is not only
familiar with the problems facing the capital, but also fully
equipped to solve them. “Believe me when I tell you that
everything we pledge during our election campaign is not beyond
our ability to realize,” Rustamian said. “Everyone on our
candidate list knows what they are doing and their record has
shown they are capable of solving the challenges facing the
city.”
Also on the ARF's ticket are Albert Achemian, a Yerevan based
architect; Anahit Yesayan, a longtime Yerevan civil servant; and
Maria Titizian the leader of the ARF Women's Organization.
The May 31 ballot will be the first since the passage in
November 2005 in a nation-wide referendum of constitutional
amendments that abolished the right of the Armenian president to
name the Yerevan mayor.
According to legislation enacted in late December 2008, the
mayor will now be selected by the 65-person Yerevan municipal
council, which will be elected under the party-list system. The
threshold for representation for individual political parties is
7 percent, and for alliances or blocs 9 percent. Forty percent
of the vote would be sufficient to give any one party or
alliance a majority of the council seats.
The five other parties that have registered candidates for the
vote are President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia
and its two junior partners Prosperous Armenia, and Orinats
Yerkir; and the extra-parliamentary Armenian National Congress,
the People's Party and Labor-Socialist Party.
|
|
