The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear frends! Arminfo news agency inform RUSSIA'S PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES ARMENIA'S PRESIDENT ON REELECTION MARCH 7. President of Russia Vladimir Putin congratulated today his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan on his victory in the presidential election in Armenia. Putin whished Kocharyan further success on the post. "Your victory has confirmed the Armenian people's firm commitment to democracy and market reforms, to the good neighbor police and mutually beneficial cooperation." Putin highly evaluates Kocharyan's contribution to the enlargement of traditionally friendly and allied relations between Armenia and Russia. "I am sure that this policy will be further developed to bring our peoples even closer." Putin notes that Russia is very much interested in stability in the Caucasus and early settlement of the Karabakh conflict. "We are ready to further promote this process." UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT AND MOSCOW'S MAYOR CONGRATULATE ARMENIA'S PRESIDENT ON REELECTION MARCH 7. Ukraine's President, Chairman of CIS Presidential Council Leonid Kuchma and Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov have congratulated Armenia's President Robert Kocharyan on his victory in the presidential election in Armenia. SERIOUS ATTEMPT AT INFRINGING ON DEMOCRACY MADE DURING RUN-OFF ELECTION: SDU LEADER MARCH 7. The events which took place during the presidential run-off election in Armenia were a serious attempt at infringing on democracy in the country, says the leader of the Self-Determination union Parouyr Hayrikyan. Hayrikyan says that the party has held a survey among 1,455 residents of Yerevan. They were asked two questions: who did you vote for? and do you believe that the election was fair?. Usually the disparity between official reports and surveys makes some 2%. But in the case of the Armenian election, it was catastrophic. Hayrikyan refuses to promulgate the results of the first survey not to escalate tensions. He, however, makes public the answers to the second one. 62% said they do not believe that the election was fair, only 10% of them having voted for Pres.Kocharyan. At the same time Hayrikyan notes that the political fight must end in "a handshake," However, the opposition has already made an appeal to the Constitutional Court. Hayrikyan reminds us that the election of 1991 was also undemocratic. The only way out of the situation is to create a democratic bloc. And so Hayrikyan urges all the political forces of Armenia to unite at the May parliamentary elections. NEW PARLIAMENT WILL NOT BE OPPOSITIONAL: SERGE SARGSSIAN MARCH 7. The new Armenian Parliament will not be oppositional, Minister of Defense Serge Sargssian said. According to him, a testimony to this is the fact that Robert Kocharian has received over 67% of votes, to a great degree due to the political forces supportive of him. This means, Sargssian said, that these parties occupy their stable place on the country's political scene and have a large electorate. He also stated that no serious changes are expected in the Armenian Government before the May 25 parliamentary elections. HEAD OF ROBERT KOCHARIAN'S ELECTION STAFF SATISFIED WITH RUN-OFF RESULTS MARCH 7. Head of Robert Kocharian's election staff, minister of Defense of Armenia Serge Sargssian expressed his satisfaction with the results of the presidential run-off election in Armenia. Commenting on the discrepancies between the conclusions of the European and CIS observers at his news conference, Sargssian pointed out that the CIS observers are better informed of the Armenian mentality and reality. Besides, the notion of democracy in the CIS countries is somewhat different from that in the European countries. Sargssian stressed that after reading the resolution of the OSCE observers one can arrive at a conclusion that they have no claims to 87% of the election commissions, and complaints were received from only 13% of them. "And the negative resolution of the OSCE observers is based on this," he said. Sargssian stressed that observers must act with the law and it is desirable that the European observers first lodge their complaints with Armenia's Foreign Office or with other authorized structures. "Unfortunately this has not been done," Sargssian said. He also reported that at many polling stations the European observers thanked members of election commissions for their exemplary work. However, later these polling stations were included in the list of the polling stations where violations were recorded. The Minister also pointed out that the European observers often complained of the election commissions from which no complaints lodged by the opposition were received. In particular, 22 complaints were received from the Syunik region, and four of them have been considered, the corresponding polling stations have been re-opened for checking, but no violations have been revealed. The other complaints are currently under consideration. Sargssian promised that the authorities will do their best for the observers to receive answers to their questions. ONE MORE PARTY FORMED IN ARMENIA MARCH 7. Constituent session of the newly created party "Consent" took place today at the House of sittings of Armenian government. The new party unites about 5,000 like-minded persons. Nerses Zeynalvandan was elected the chairman of the party during the session. One of the leaders "Consent" - the Minister of Transport and Communication of Armenia Andranik Manukian said that despite the plenty of political parties on the political arena of the country, the creation of a new political force is conditioned on the necessity of struggle against irreconcilability. The republic was the witness of the presidential election, and its participants became its active participants. The society saw what is happening on the political arena, and what the political parties do, splitting the people into several parts and creating an atmosphere of irreconcilable hostility among its several sections. "Just that's why the name of the new political party prompts the orientation of our course", Manukian said. He also informed that he has ever been a member of the Republican party of Armenia, and then left its ranks, keeping contacts with that political force. Now Andranik Manukian hopes for cooperation of the RPA and Consent. The majority of the members of the new party has significant experience of political activities. The congress of the Consent made a decision to take part in the forthcoming May 25 parliamentary elections in Armenia. COUNCIL OF EUROPE EXTREMELY WORRIED ABOUT ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS MARCH 7. Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder and Secretary General Walter Schwimmer today expressed their concern that the Armenian presidential elections fell short of international standards for democratic elections. They considered this to be all the more serious, as free and fair elections are the basis of democracy. ARMINFO was informed in the CE. "It is now of the utmost importance that the administrative and judicial authorities carefully examine electoral complaints and appeals in a transparent and credible manner. This is an essential condition for re-establishing confidence in the electoral process, with a view to the forthcoming legislative elections in May," Walter Schwimmer pointed out. "Following serious irregularities reported after the first round, we made a series of requests to ensure better conduct of the second round. We very much regret that these requests were not met," Peter Schieder stressed. "The full extent of responsibility for, and the impact of, the irregularities are yet to be determined, but it is already clear that they cannot remain without consequences. The issue will be raised in forthcoming meetings at parliamentary and ministerial level", concluded the Council of Europe leaders. HEADLINES OF 7 MARCH CIS EXPERTS DISCUSS DRAFT DOCUMENTS REGULATING ACTIVITIES OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CONGRATULATES ARMENIAN WOMEN ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES PROGRAM OF MEASURES TO ENSURE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPERTY-AGAINST-DEBT AGREEMENT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IS COMPLICATED AND DELICATE PROBLEM: PACE RAPPORTEUR ON KARABAKH PROBLEM UN SC NEVER TO INCLUDE ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS IN TERROR LISTS GOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION SET UP TO ORGANIZE FUNERAL OF WELL-KNOWN ARMENIAN ACADEMIC ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES ORDER OF PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS BY WATER ECONOMY PROTECTION DEPARTMENT ON OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY ICRC REMINDS OF SUFFERINGS OF WOMEN LIVING IN CONFLICT AREAS MEMBERS OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH COMMISSION FOR RECONCILIATION MAY MEET IN LONDON No information from Site can be used without prior permission of ARMINFO http://www.arminfo.am -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=media.arminfo http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com