Orinats Yerkir Election Campaign Rally, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

The International Herald Tribune carries an Associated Press report on today’s campaign rally by the opposition Orinats Yerkir party at Yerevan’s Matenadaran. Although many opposition and civil society activists dislike him, the party led by former National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian managed to attract thousands. Often accused of populism, the radical opposition is probably jealous of the young leader.

More significantly and unlike those opposition parties calling for revolution instead of trying to campaign, most of those attending were young. The radical opposition appears only able to mainly attract middle aged and elderly supporters. There were also many women in attendance. Compared to other opposition rallies, the meeting appeared to me to represent a broad cross-section of society and it is hard to think of a viable opposition without the involvement of this party.

Probably it is the only genuine pro-Western political party in Armenia. The others appear to change their geopolitical orientation with the wind although probably if any protests were to occur, both sides of the opposition would need each other to make up the number and type of people taking to the streets. Without Orinats Yerkir and possibly Heritage, I don’t think the other opposition parties stand a chance of achieving anything if push comes to shove.

Of course, if the vote is conducted properly on 12 May and if the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission register significant improvements over past elections, it shouldn’t have to come to that.

Some 6,000 people turned out Sunday for a rally organized by an opposition party that hopes to improve its foothold in parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic of Armenia next weekend.

Leaders of the party Orinats Yerkir, whose name means Country Ruled by Law, accused President Robert Kocharian’s government of corruption and cronyism in speeches to the crowd in central Yerevan.

Party leader Artur Bagdasarian vowed to protest vigorously if the party suspects fraud in Saturday’s vote. Opposition parties said 2003 parliamentary and presidential elections were marred by fraud and intimidation, and international observers also said the votes failed to meet standards for democracy.

The pro-Western Bagdasarian resigned as parliament speaker last year, after his liberal party quit the governing coalition because of dissatisfaction with the government’s foreign policy and the pace of democratic reform. His resignation came after a political uproar over his reported comment that Armenia’s future lies with the European Union and NATO and that Russia should not block its Westward path.

Armenia and Russia have close relations, and Kocharian quickly disavowed the speaker’s statement, saying that Armenia had no plans to join NATO.

Several lawmakers from Orinats Yerkir quit the party’s parliamentary faction amid the scandal, leaving it with just five seats in the 131-member parliament.

Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian’s Republican Party held about half the seats in the outgoing parliament and was expected to maintain its dominance in the new parliament, to be elected Saturday.

Opposition leaders say Kocharian and his government have violently cracked down on dissent, allowed corruption to flourish and done little to improve the lot of impoverished Armenia’s 3.3 million people.

Incidentally, despite the interest of the international media in Baghdasarian and Orinats Yerkir, there were no film crews from any of the TV stations at today’s rally. The only video cameras were those belonging to the party. Anyway, photographs of two of the other campaign rallies by the party I’ve attended are available here and here.

Orinats Yerkir Election Campaign Rally, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007