In Razdan, Sasun Mikaelyan's election office blames authorities of pressing voters

Staff members of the election office of Sasun Mikaelyan, the opposition candidate for mayoralty of Razdan from the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), accuse the authorities of violating the law. Representatives of the Mayor deny the allegations.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 12, the mayor election will be held in the administrative centre of the Kotaik Region the city of Razdan. Sasun Mikaelyan, the representative of the ANC, one of the famous commanders of the Karabakh war, and Aram Danielyan, current Mayor, and his Advisor Ovanes Prtavyan, intend to fight for the position of the mayor.

Talks of democratic elections, led by the city authorities, are just window dressings. This was told to journalists by Mesrop Mesropyan, Press Secretary of the election office of Sasun Mikaelyan. According to him, in fact, Aram Danielyan, Mayor of Razdan, uses his available administrative resource to intimidate voters.

"People are given papers to sign, and in accordance with that papers they undertake obligations to elect Danielyan; staff members of institutions, including teachers, are being intimidated," states Press Secretary of the opposition candidate.

Akop Avakumyan, the head of the Sasun Mikaelyan's election office, told journalists that the Mikaelyan's supporters are subjected to pressure. In particular, under pressure of Aida Azroyan, Principal of the music school, one of the teachers had to write a letter of resignation. According to Akop Avakumyan, the similar situation reigns at a number of enterprises of the city.

"The Mayor is very democratic and he has never done any violent steps against anyone else," emphasizes Alvina Zakaryan, Press Secretary of current Mayor Aram Danielyan.

According to Karen Markaryan, the other representative of the Aram Danielyan's election office, the member of the Republican Party, responsible for communication with the media, claims that allegations of Sasun Mikaelyan and his supporters on violations of the legislation do not correspond to reality. According to him, the Mayor takes all possible steps to hold fair and democratic election.

Aram M., a worker of the Razdan thermal power plant (TPP), said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that no equal conditions were created for the electoral campaign. "The very fact that the Mayor holds meetings during working hours at our TPP, which is not allowed to other candidates for the position, says a lot," says Aram.

"Most people are extremely dissatisfied with the situation, and many people went to work to Russia. Meanwhile, many people cannot fight in open, since they fear to lose their jobs. It is very difficult to be in opposition in a small town," says Narek S., a staff member of a bank.