YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Local elections will take place in Armenia’s 18 enlarged communities on September 25.

The ruling Civil Contract party is going to actively take part in the elections. The pre-election activities of the party will be coordinated by Civil Contract faction MP, member of the party Board, Arsen Torosyan.

Speaking to ARMENPRESS, Mr. Torosyan introduced the current activities and his assessment of the pre-election processes.

“At this moment, the nomination, registration of candidates of proportional lists, document clarification within the set time are taking place. After registration a lottery will be held to draw numbers, and the pre-election campaign will start on August 31. The registration of the vote of our citizen is very important for us, no matter whether we or our opponents will receive it. In this regard, we are making additional efforts for the process to be maximally free and transparent”, he said.

The Civil Contract party is participating in elections in 17 of these 18 enlarged communities. These are the followings: Tsaghkahovit, Talin and Alagyaz (Aragatsotn province), Gyulagarak, Alaverdi, Lori Berd, Tashir (Lori province), Charentsavan, Akunk, Byureghavan, Jrvezh (Kotayk province), Ani (Shirak province), Sisian, Kajaran (Syunik province), Areni, Yeghegis (Vayots Dzor province) and Berd (Tavush province). The party is not participating in elections in Chambarak community.

“We have submitted almost all documents, the names of candidates toping the lists, the lists of the council of elders. I am coordinating all of this, but actions are also being taken by a large representative staff from the parliament, the government and the Civil Contract party office”, he said.

The lawmaker says that the activeness of citizens in local self-government elections depends on various circumstances, such as the number of candidates nominated in this or that community, the process of the election campaign and the rhetoric to be used, as well as the contradictions existing between the competing political forces.

“For instance, in Sisian enlarged community, which is again being enlarged with Gorayk community, 7 political forces have been nominated. This automatically means there will be a very high activeness because everyone will try to get a vote and get people involved. But we have a community where only one political force has been nominated, for example Jrvezh. Of course, we should try to encourage people as much as possible to come and vote because the registration of a citizen’s vote is important in order to show the legitimacy of the elections, but the difference will be obvious”, he said.

Arsen Torosyan stated that as a political commitment the Civil Contract party attaches importance to the broad participation of political forces, because the more people participate in elections, the more representational and legitimate the elections will be.

As for the main emphasis of the pre-election program of the Civil Contract party in the local elections, Mr. Torosyan said that the ruling force has shown at the government and parliament level that the development of communities is one of their most important priorities.

“This is also the reason for the subvention programs being implemented by the government when the community and the government are participating in the implementation of such programs, as asphalting, lighting, garbage collection, renovation of kindergartens. You see how much money is allocated for it every time at the Cabinet meetings. The development of communities is also being done with direct spending by the government. For example, the construction, renovation and re-construction of hundreds of schools and kindergartens, that we have announced, also relates to communities. Now our candidates are taking a commitment to solve the problems typical to each community, by using the central commitment and expressing readiness to unconditionally assist it. Of course, we have registered major progress in many communities and this is obvious when the problems, that have not been solved for 20-30 years, are now being solved, but, of course, there are problems that need to be solved. It seems, we are also offering the voters a symbiosis, as the work between the community and the central power will give much better results than if they work separately from each other”, Arsen Torosyan stated.

Interview by Karen Khachatryan

Photos by Hayk Manukyan