LATEST OPPOSITION PARTY RALLY -- SAME RHETORIC,

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001906

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, EUR/ACE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ASEC AM
SUBJECT: LATEST OPPOSITION PARTY RALLY -- SAME RHETORIC,
FEWER NUMBERS



1. (U) Aram Sargsyan's opposition Republic Party held a
party meeting and rally October 25 in Yerevan's Matenadaran
(Manuscript Museum) Square. The rally was peaceful and a
modest police force of four officers was stationed at the
sidelines of the meeting to assist with traffic flow and
help pedestrians get to the meeting. At one point, Embassy
observers counted approximately 1,000 supporters at the
rally -- a much smaller group than attended similar
opposition rallies last year. Sargsyan, along with other
opposition leaders in attendance, called on citizens to
boycott or vote "no" during the constitutional referendum
scheduled for November 27. As they have in the past, they
called for an organized public uprising to oust President
Robert Kocharian from power.


2. (SBU) Aram Sargsyan opened the meeting by blasting the
GOAM for denying his party the use of public indoor meeting
facilities for the meeting. (Note: A previously scheduled
series of conferences have occupied the GOAM's meeting
facilities in downtown Yerevan for the past few days. We
are unaware of the details of what, if any, space the GOAM
offered the Sargsyan as an alternative to an outdoor meeting
in Matenadaran Square. End Note.)


3. (SBU) Leaders of almost all Armenian opposition parties
were present at the meeting. Speakers, including opposition
Justice Bloc Stepan Demirchian, claimed that the GOAM would
tamper with the upcoming referendum balloting, pointing to
the 2003 Presidential elections as evidence that GOAM
authorities were incapable of conducting free and fair
elections. Comment: Even though most of the speakers
acknowledged the importance of the proposed constitutional
reforms, they made it clear that the November 27 vote is
their preferred vehicle to rally support for their cause.
The smaller-than-expected turnout, coupled with the absence
of opposition figure Artashes Geghamian, suggests that the
opposition is still struggling to form a common platform
among the different parties and attract large numbers for
public events like the October 25 meeting.
EVANS