  |
|
|
home news banks cultural criminal dipcourier products subscribe |
STABLE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF COUNTRY CHARACTERIZED BY EXISTENCE OF FULL-FLEDGED POLITICAL PARTIES MARCH 4. The stable political system of a country is characterized by the existence of several large, stable and full-fledged parties, and not 120 small and weak ones, as it is observed in Armenia. The candidates for Presidency, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Leader of the People's Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchyan agreed with this opinion in the course of TV debates going on the air of the Armenian Public Television yesterday. Robert Kocharyan said in this connection, Armenia has much to do, and the current situation in the country is accounted for by the lack of a full-fledged political field. He added that in the unstable political filed of Armenia a party is divided into four parts, and different persons establish parties to solve their personal problems, and not those of the country. In this connection, the incumbent president pointed out the importance of the role of a person in the issues of overcoming the difficult period in the country without shocks. Speaking of the ways of normalization of the political field in the country, Robert Kocharyan pointed out the fact of adoption of a law on increasing the ticket seats in the Armenian National Assembly, as well as discussion of a package of constitutional reforms. In his turn, speaking of the ways of regulating the political field, Stepan Demirchyan said the PPA has submitted a law on political parties to the Armenian NA, however, the integration process should be natural. He said as a result of a natural process, large ideological parties must be established, whose program and orientations will be clear for electors. Stepan Demirchyan accused the current authorities of contributing to the collapse and fragmentation of parties, as well as of establishing "pocket" parties which are background for political games. However, the attempts of the authorities to collapse the PPA were a complete failure, as the party is one of the serious political forces in the country, Demirchyan said. He said it is political forces that must be presented in the parliament, and not the local authorities. It order that the National Assembly of Armenia becomes a real political body, it is necessary that the parliamentary election be carried out on the proportional system, he said.
Hinting at a number of former PPA members headed by Parliamentary
Speaker Armen Khachatryan and Vice Speaker Gagik Aslanyan, Stepan
Demirchyan advised Robert Kocharyan not to rely upon the persons who
withdrew from one party to another. In this connection, Robert
Kocharyan said these are the people who actively participated in the
establishment of the PPA, and their withdrawal from the party is
explained by the party's recent policy. He added that he once
released from their posts most of the people currently supporting
Stepan Demirchyan because of nonfulfillment of their duties.
ROBERT KOCHARYAN: THERE ARE THREE PRINCIPLE COMPONENTS FOR EFFECTIVE
STRUGGLE AGAINST CORRUPTION
MARCH 4. There are three principle components for effective struggle against corruption: the right personnel policy, legislative regulation and control over fulfillment of laws, said Armenian President Robert Kocharyan yesterday during his TV debates with the candidate for Presidency, Leader of the People's Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchyan on the air of the Armenian Public Television. The incumbent president said in the course of the presidency, a law on civil servants was adopted, as well as other laws contributing to waging the right personnel policy and reducing corruption, such as, for example, the Land Code. Robert Kocharyan said the violators of the laws adopted will be strictly punished. He said in spite of the fact that corruption is a serious problem, Armenia, according to the data of the World Bank, is one of the less corrupt countries in the CIS area. As regards the struggle against the clan system, the incumbent president considers establishment of a fair field of competition, especially in the sphere of business, the most effective method of struggle against this evil. In this connection, a relevant legislation has been adopted, with an anti-monopoly commission having been set up, he said. However, Kocharyan said the serious steps towards elimination of the clan system will be evident for the people within the coming years. He said the share of the small and middle-sized business in the GDP made up only 10%, while, at present, this indicator have reached 35%, which is a result of the successful struggle against the clan system. He said as a result of this struggle, 14 bln drams were returned to the state budget yet in 1998, and by 7-8 bln drams were returned within the following three years. Besides, 28 criminal cases were initiated in 1992-95 (energy terror), as a result, several bln drams were returned to the budget. He said, the country's legislation adopted before 1997 contributed to the prosperity of corruption in Armenia. In his turn, agreeing with Robert Kocharyan's methods of struggle against corruption and clan system, on the whole, Stepan Demirchyan said there is a fourth necessary component for this struggle: a legally elected president. He said if elected, he will not divide the public into "his people and strangers." "I will take the way towards consolidation of the people," he said. Demirchyan also accused the incumbent president of the release of many state officials from their posts for their political opinions during the presidency of Robert Kocharyan.
In response to Robert Kocharyan's repeatedly proposals to name even
one of those officials, Stepan Demirchyan only promised to present
him a relevant list on March 4. Besides, Stepan Dermichyan pointed
out the fact of detentions of a number of opposition campaigners,
adding that all the detainees only tried to counteract the attempts
of rigging and violations during the first round of the Presidential
election.
PEOPLE SHOULD DECIDE ITSELF WHO TO GIVE PREFERENCE THROUGH FREE AND
TRANSPARENT ELECTION: STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN
MARCH 4. The people should decide itself who to give preference through free and transparent election, said the candidate for presidency, Leader of the People's Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchyan in the course of TV debates on the air of the Armenian Public Television yesterday. He said lack of the experience of the presidential work does not mean that the incumbent president should remain at this post forever. As regards the speculations around the name of Karen Demirchyan, there are groundless. "I am proud of being Karen Demirchyan's son. The people always compare me with him, and it lays a great responsibility upon me. But, I have my personal way in the life, and if the people do not see definite qualities in my person, the family name will not have any meaning," Stepan Demirchyan said. Stepan Dermichyan pointed out that he attaches a great importance to moral values in the policy. Pointing out the fact that he entered the policy after the tragic events in the Armenian Parliament in 1999 at the people's request, he said he does not inherited the People's party, he was elected its leader. He pointed out the role of the experience in government of the country and said that he will rely upon real professionals when waging the personnel policy. Speaking of the accusation of Head of the pre-election staff of Robert Kocharyan Serge Sargssyan that there are candidates not differing shells from bullets, Demirchyan said "I know that neither shells nor bullets should be used for political purposes. It would be impossible to maintain this party, without personal strong-willed qualities. I am able to made strong-willed decisions, and my decision to participate in the runoff election is an evident of it," Stepan Demirchyan said.
In his turn, the Armenian president expressed confidence that there
is a definite way every candidate for presidency should pass. "It is
an experience of the state government. I am sure that the state must
not be transformed into a trainer for learning. Before becoming the
President, I occupied the post of the prime minister for a year,
while, before it, I had been the first person of the NKR for 5 years.
Due to my personal experience, I know what does political growth,
settlement of problems, management of the situation and hardening
mean," Robert Kocharyan said.
SPECIALISTS OF CENTER OF CORPORATIVE MANAGEMENT OF ARMENIA WORK OVER
CREATION OF CORPORATIVE CODE OF ARMENIA
MARCH 4. Specialists of the Center of Corporative management of Armenia are working over creation of a Corporative Code of the Republic of Armenia as recommendatory. The Head of the Center Tigran Karapetian told ARMINFO, the Code pursues an aim to ensure transparency in the activities of public companies, which supposes presence of accessible information, which ensures the transparency of their financial state, introduction of the system of internal audit and increasing the level of corporative management. According to Karapetian, elaboration of the Code will take about a year. Specialists of the center have examined the experience of several countries of the world, including experience on elaboration of Corporative Codes of England, Russia, Poland and Southern Korea. "We don't intend to invent something new, it is only necessary to bring the standards, existing in the world practice, in conformity with the economic and social realities of Armenia", Karapetian said. For control and application of proposed rules the Code supposes introduction of the institute of corporative secretary. For this purpose the Center will hold special courses for corporative secretaries, the educational program of which will be elaborated with the participation of leading specialists from Russia, germany and England.
Karapetian informed that today the center is engaged in holding a
monitoring of companies, which supposes examination, analysis and
estimation of their financial state. He also added that currently the
specialists of the center are working over introduction of so-called
rating of corporative management, which estimated several aspects of
the companies' activities. The estimation of the companies is carried
out on the following criteria - financial state, transparency of
management and structure of property. The results of the rating will
be promulgated on the site of the center, as well as on the pages of
the monthly specialized journal of the Center.
USA CALLS ARMENIA FOR CONFIRMING ITS ADHERENCE TO FAIR ELECTIONS IN
PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF ELECTION
MARCH 4. The United States agree with the preliminary joint assessment of the ODIHR and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that the presidential election in Armenia was quiet and well-organized, on the whole, but the vote calculation procedure was distorted, and the election process did not meet the international standards in several key aspects. The statement of Ambassador Stephan Minikes at the OSCE Permanent Council welcomes a number of positive elements in the election process mentioned by the joint assessment of ODHIR and PACE. Among them are participation of 9 candidates for presidency, which gave the electors a real choice; the active character of the campaign throughout the country; amendments to the law on the elections; the satisfactory level of techincal training carried out by electoral commissions; the general transparency of voting, calculation of votes and summing up of the results of the election at the level of electoral districts; clarifications in the electoral lists. The statement says, unfortunately we did not attach importance to a number of serious violations observed in the pre-election period, including intimidation of electors, statements on unequal use of state resources by the incumbent president, violations of the principles of equal access for all the candidates made by the state television. We also cannot but mention that on the day of the election, there were a number of violations, including the problematic procedure of calculation of votes and information of ballot stuffing at a territorial level, the Ambassador said. The Unites States urge all the parties to confirm their adherence to the fair and entirely transparent runoff election. The Armenian authorities should confirm their promise to prevent repetition of the problems aroused in the first round by specific measures, the statement says. GROUP OF CITIZENS OF GEORGIA WHO COMMITTED MURDER IN YEREVAN WAS DETAINED MARCH 4. ARMINFO-BLACK SEA PRESS. Officials of Criminal Investigation Department of Georgia detained in Tbilisi a group of criminals who committed brutal murder of a native of Russia in Yerevan. The detention was the result of joint efforts of Interior Ministries and General Prosecutor's Offices of Georgia and Armenia. As Omar Mikeladze, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Interior Ministry of Georgia, declared at a press conference today, having 5 previous conviction a 39 years old Besarion Sabashvili, his wife 35 years old Tsitsino Kvirkvelia and 41 years old Mariam Natsatanian were detained. He said that the latter and the wanted at present 26 years old Mikheil Berdzenishvili left for Yerevan for robbery of 41 years old native of Russia Liudmila Yakubova. Besarion Sabashvili killed Liudmila Yakubova and the criminals dismembered the dead body. Two bags with parts of the dead body were found in a river. The criminals left two babies of Liudmila Yakubova in the centre of Yerevan and returned to Georgia. According to the investigation, the criminals stole $50,000 from the victim. Mikheil Berdzenishvili is wanted at present. HEADLINES OF 4 MARCH
ICRC STEPANAKERT OFFICE STARTED IMPLEMENTING PROGRAM "SAFE
PLAYGROUNDS FOR CHILDREN" IN KARABAKH
|
