Negative campaigning is part of the ongoing election process in Armenia, with the opposition Heritage party being a frequent target of mudslinging attacks apparently triggered by rival opposition groups.
The smear campaigns against the parliamentary party led by independent Armenia's first foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian increased in scope after it refused to continue its active involvement in an inter-party headquarters that it itself had set up jointly with the radical opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), the pro-establishment Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, ARF) for a common effort to combat fraud in the May 6 parliamentary elections. Heritage explained its move by suspicions it had regarding the integrity of at least one of the parties involved in the body, namely the PAP, as well as the lack of a formal document signed by the top leaders of the parties that would give the headquarters a greater weight. Senior Heritage member Stepan Safaryan also claimed in one of his recent media interviews that ex-president Robert Kocharyan was behind the initiative, an opinion that was not, however, publicly shar ed by Heritage leader Hovannisian.
Armenian News
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