Former RoA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian, who now heads the Civilitas Foundation think-tanks talked about the "right to elect" at a forum organized by the organization yesterday. "The institution of having free and fair elections presupposes a dual road. The opposition must not view elections merely as a path to get rid of the authorities, but rather as a means to create a correct counterbalance to the regime in the political and social sector. The regime, for its part, must not view free and fair elections as a threat but must tolerate such elections as a way to create such a correct counterbalance," Mr. Oskanian said. "We haven't had normal elections in Armenia, possibly with the exception of 1991," said the former foreign minister. The other speaker on the panel, Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan, noted that if the regime keeps winning elections and the opposition constantly loosing, it might logically lead to a slow collapse in the long-run, since without being perfected, the process cannot have a future. Mr. Harutyunyan also noted that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia must assume a greater level of responsibility since the obligations of the winner are always greater. He said the opposition must also continue to assume a measure of responsibility and perfect its craft and understand where it made mistakes. In Mr. Harutyunyan's view the majority of those who do not vote in elections are mostly in the opposition camp. This is a warning signal to opposition leaders that opposition leaning segments of the society do not view current opposition political forces as worthy alternatives to the authorities. This was borne out in the recent municipal elections in a city where the electorate can be considered at least 50% opposition leaning. He went on to point to the troubling fact that the electorate is becoming passive and indifferent regarding the elections and that just the opposite must take place. Lambasting the fact that many sell their vote for 5,000 - 10,000 drams, Mr. Harutyunyan said he constantly tells voters that political forces that have to buy votes are not capable or willing to improve the lot of ordinary citizens and that voters will always need that additional 5,000 drams. Mr. Harutyunyan added that Armenia is not producing a citizenry ready to struggle for its rights and that if a citizen doesn't stand up in defense of his or her rights, no one else will. Mr. Oskanian said that it would take decades for the standard of living in Armenia to reach a level where bribes would no longer be an incentive. Thus, he said the quickest way to fight against the custom would be for the government to prohibit it. Mr. Oskanian said the principle of "one person, one vote" is violated when ballot stuffing and other voting violations occur. "A person who goes to vote and places his ballot in the box believes that the principle works. But later, that person's vote is cancelled out, destroyed, by ballot stuffing. I also voted. But I don't believe my vote was equal to that of one person but rather 1/100th. It depends on the extent of the ballot stuffing that occurred."