EU will criticize Kocharyan’s return
Armenian can't allow itself to have too many problems," says President of the "European Friends of Armenia" organization Michael Cambeck. According to him, the May 6 parliamentary elections will have a real impact on Europe's attitude toward Armenia.
Cambeck says Armenia's two neighboring countries, Turkey and Azerbaijan, have already started an anti-propaganda campaign. They will take advantage of"low quality" elections when it comes to issues related to Armenia's security, and the solution of any problem will not be in Armenia's favor.
"The Armenian authorities and the opposition have a lot of homework to do," Cambeck said in an interview with "A1+" and explained that "the government has to prove that it isn't sparing efforts to hold high-quality elections, and the opposition has to show that it isn't just criticizing for the sake of criticizing".
However, the expert underlines that the government has the highest responsibility.
"It is important for the government to not make the same mistakes that it did after the 2008 presidential elections. That won't lead to anything good, and there will be less trust in Armenia," said the President of the Brussels-based "European Friends of Armenia" organization.
Why is the European Union forgiving when it comes to the lack of disclosure of the events of March 1?
"The President and his regime have changed. It all took place during the term of the previous President, not the incumbent President," says the expert.
Does this mean that Europe will be more concrete with its demands and evaluations, if ex-president Robert Kocharyan decides to return to politics or participate in the 2013 presidential elections?
In response, Michael Cambeck said: "I didn't say it was Robert Kocharyan's fault. I said the incumbent president at the time didn't have the administrative levers".
Nevertheless, Cambeck believes Europe will criticize Kocharyan's possible return to politics "since there has been more progress in the past years than during the years of the 2nd President's term in office".
A month ago, the "European Friends of Armenia" held a pre-electoral survey in Armenia, which showed that the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) had higher chances of winning in the parliamentary elections. However, that same survey also showed that citizens of Armenia don't have faith in these political processes.
