Levon Ter Petrosian Rally, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Yesterday’s third rally by the former and first president of Armenia, Levon Ter Petrosian, has been and gone, and I can’t say that it was anything remarkable. Now Ter Petrosian has come out of self-imposed retirement and held two previous rallies, interest in attending other meetings appears to be waning. This was certainly the case for two friends, one who will vote for Levon and the other who loathes him. Neither attended the rally although they had been to the two previous ones.

Despite it being a Saturday when it could have been supposed that more people would turn up, there were actually fewer in attendance with large spaces on both sides of Liberty Square and a crowd that noticeably thinned out further away from the podium. Chants from the front resonated in the distance while walking towards the back of the crowd with the vast majority of people remaining silent. A senior Aylentrank and pro-Ter Petrosian activist even commented that there were fewer people in attendance.

ArmInfo reports 15,000, but it might have actually been less. Certainly, it wasn’t larger and I don’t expect anything interesting to happen with Ter Petrosian until the official pre-election campaign period starts early next year.

Of course, it should also be pointed out that leaflets advertising the rally were confiscated by the authorities and there were none to be seen posted anywhere in the city in the days leading up to the meeting. And although there were visibly less people in attendance, it wasn’t such a drop off as most opposition rallies usually experience. Although some youth activists are openly supportive of Ter Petrosian’s presidential bid, it also has to be said that the audience was largely made up of middle aged and elderly people.

The full post accompanied by photographs is available on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.