ANC ready to face the authorities’ challenge - coordinatorFebruary 20, 2012 - 13:51 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian authorities are doing everything to weaken the opposition and secure an allegedly “fair” victory at the elections, Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabyan said. In this context, he compared actions of the authorities with those of Emperor Commodus from the “Gladiator” movie who furtively strikes Maximus a fatal blow before fighting him on the arena. “Elections in Armenia resemble this fight: authorities are doing their best to prevent the rival from winning,” he noted. Among measures taken against the opposition, Zurabyan mentioned electoral bribe, manipulations with electoral lists, “participation” of those missing from Armenia in the elections, governmental control over the TV, hampering in financing of the opposition by businesses. As to the opposition's demand concerning the move to 100 % proportional system of elections, Zurabyan said even if the authorities fail to do it, “even if this vicious practice is preserved, we are ready to face the challenge like Maximus faced fighting with Commodus.” Zurabyan also touched upon the topic of electoral bribing saying the people are the “victim”, and they cannot be blamed for selling their voices at elections. “You cannot blame a victim, a slave for the slave-owner’s crimes,” he emphasized. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Lemkin Institute petition seeks release of Armenians in Azerbaijan The Lemkin Institute is deeply concerned about the continued illegal detention of political prisoners from Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Armenian Catholicos calls for national unity against threats Karekin II issued a message on Republic Day marking the anniversary of the First Armenian Republic. Opposition leader, supporters spend night at Sardarapat memorial Police made nearly 300 arrests the day before as Galstanyan and his supporters continued to demonstrate in Yerevan. Armenia designates flood-hit communities as disaster areas The emergency situation was created by floods caused by heavy rains in Armenia’s north on May 25-26. |