Hanrapetutyun Launch Campaign
Republic Party Campaign Launch, Shengavit, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007
RFE/RL reports that the radical opposition Republic party launched their campaign in an outlying district of Yerevan on Thursday. Considering the rain the rally was well attended although the party is considered by most to be a minor one in Armenia with little chance of attracting widespread support. Nevertheless, Republic’s Aram Sargsyan continues to gain the attention of the media.
Armenia’s most radical opposition party rallied more than a thousand supporters in Yerevan on Thursday, telling them to be ready for a “democratic revolution” which it said could follow the May 12 parliamentary elections.
Launching their election campaign in the city’s southern Shengavit district, the leaders of the Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party indicated their intention to stage a popular revolt in the wake of what they expected to be another fraudulent vote.
“This is our country, people. We are its masters, people,” Hanrapetutyun’s outspoken leader, Aram Sarkisian, told the enthusiastic crowd that braved heavy rain to gather in the main local square.
Sarkisian said the choice of the starting point of his party’s campaign was not accidental, reminding the demonstrators that the Armenian opposition’s most recent attempt at regime change began with a Hanrapetutyun rally held in the same venue in January 2004.
The full news item is here.
