Stella Avsharyan, 25, English language tutor

I hope that after the election life will significantly improve. I think that the preliminary elections obviously were not fair but personally I did not witness any act of destruction or misbehavior.

However, there will be riots if the second election has significant unfairness. I would say riots will be inevitable if the current President stays in power by force and manipulation.

I am very pessimistic about the March 5 elections, I think most
likely there will be much cheating. I think the President should have paid more attention to the staff, his team selections. That is vital in the overall success.

Rubina Ghazarian, 52, business woman

I would vote for someone else if I see a proper replacement of the
current President. However in the oppositional team I don't see any decent candidate.

I am coming from Iran. I gave up on my citizenship and gained Armenian
citizenship. This is my first Presidential elections. Compared
to what I saw in my country, the elections in Armenia seem to be well
organized.

I see the process for improvement started, it could have been done much
better. I would like to see further improvements after the elections -- particularly a change of monopoly status of some companies, which create large market distortions and inhibits free market economy development.

Another thing I would suggest is the fight against corruption. These two are very essential. Once the corruption is down, more money will be in the budget to take care of social programs, salaries and pension.

We have to know our leaders before we decide to follow
them. Otherwise it is too early to talk about democracy in Armenia, once the votes are for sale.

Dajad A. Davidian, priest

I have been to Armenia many times before I moved in 2000. I can see
much improvements sine 1998, especially in the service business. If Armenia had capital, I would say that is normal. But we don't, so most people are poor and not employed by traditional employers, large production companies.

Political parties in Armenia, to my observation, are based on personalities and emotions rather than ideas. In the campaigns I did not hear any sound presentation of the programs of the candidates.
They are all for a strong Armenia, however the means by which we will
reach that are not defined properly.

Our political leaders do not know the art of politics, which is the
compromise. I don't see violence taking place even if the second elections will be conducted again unfair. Armenians in general are not violence oriented.

Sarkis Matosyan, 22, student

I am sure that the current President has done a lot, especially in the
earthquake zone. I am originally from Spitak, and 10 people out of
10 will vote for Kocharyan in Spitak. He is very well favored in Armenia.

There are issues that I am not happy with the current President, especially that the October 27 trial lasts so long. On the other hand, we want to be close with Russia and other NIS countries and I am sure Kocharyan will pursue that policy.

Eduard Garibyan, 67, pensioner.

There were lots of acts of unfairness during the elections, and that's
what will happen again on March 5. People are at the edge of poverty and we can't go on like this for another term. Whoever gets elected absolutely has to pay attention to people, create jobs for them.