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'SELF-CRITICIZING' AUTHORITIES: WILL NEW TACTICS AND "A VICTIM'S IMAGE" ENSURE SUCCESS FOR RULING PARTY?
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
14.11.11 | 13:56
Photo: www.gov.am
Armenia's switching to a pre-election mode is being fueled by the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and, in particular, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, who is likely to be the second candidate
on the party's slate at next year's parliamentary polls, next to
President Serzh Sargsyan.
Premier Sargsyan (no relation to the president) has chosen a seemingly
win-win tactic - as the current prime minister, he relentlessly
criticizes the situation in Armenia and states that the RPA, realizing
all the flaws, is going to fix them - if it gets elected.
Experts note that thereby the prime minister deprives the opponents
of the scope for criticism, as it is hard to criticize someone who
admits his fault.
Speaking at the session of the Political Assembly of the European
People's Party in Brussels early last week, Sargsyan said that,
for example, in today's Armenia there is a gap between the declared
values and the reality. He expressed hope that democratic reforms
will help narrow this gap, saying that Armenia must speed up reform
and institutional transformation. "The crisis has deepened poverty,
led to the growth of external debt and inflation," he emphasized.
Member of the main opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) Zoya
Tadevosyan believes that after statements in Brussels Sargsyan should
have immediately resigned.
"If a senior official acknowledges that glaring iniquities are present
in his country, it means that he does not control the situation,"
said the oppositionist. She added that the head of the government
simply said what others have been talking about for a long time in
order to develop an image of a victim by means of confession.
Recently, Sargsyan has often reported on what has been done in the past
several years. He says that a powerful institution of the ombudsman
has been established, e-governance, e-tax reporting and a transparent
mechanism for business registration have been introduced.
Reforms are ongoing in the justice system, education, tax and customs
administration, a new pension system is being formed. Besides, a
program of developing export-oriented industries is being elaborated
with the help of the World Bank.
At the same time, the premier does not address the most painful
subjects that are of concern to society, in particular the deep
oligarchic nature of the economy.
The World Bank estimates that Armenia has a potential to collect 240
billion drams (about $623.3 million) more in taxes. The draft budget
for 2012 assumes an increase in the total tax burden by 101 billion
drams (around $262 million). This means that the government is trying
to get the economy out of the "shadow" gradually, without the so-called
"shock therapy", without hurting "the shadowy agents". Most of the
"shadow", according to the estimation of international financial
institutions, is concentrated in the mining industry. But the new law
on mineral resources does not provide for an increase in environmental
taxes.
Premier Sargsyan does not mention that for many years the sphere of
information technologies has been declared a priority of Armenia's
economy, but its share in Armenia's export does not increase. On
the contrary, good programmers simply leave the country because in
Armenia they have no conditions for equal competition.
The government likes to point out that in recent years Internet
penetration in the country has increased manifold, etc., disregarding
the fact that this is true on a global scale which naturally includes
Armenia.
Anyway, it still remains unclear whether society will swallow this
bait of the self-critical pre-election tactics or if the authorities
will again need to resort to fraud to get votes.
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
14.11.11 | 13:56
Photo: www.gov.am
Armenia's switching to a pre-election mode is being fueled by the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and, in particular, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, who is likely to be the second candidate
on the party's slate at next year's parliamentary polls, next to
President Serzh Sargsyan.
Premier Sargsyan (no relation to the president) has chosen a seemingly
win-win tactic - as the current prime minister, he relentlessly
criticizes the situation in Armenia and states that the RPA, realizing
all the flaws, is going to fix them - if it gets elected.
Experts note that thereby the prime minister deprives the opponents
of the scope for criticism, as it is hard to criticize someone who
admits his fault.
Speaking at the session of the Political Assembly of the European
People's Party in Brussels early last week, Sargsyan said that,
for example, in today's Armenia there is a gap between the declared
values and the reality. He expressed hope that democratic reforms
will help narrow this gap, saying that Armenia must speed up reform
and institutional transformation. "The crisis has deepened poverty,
led to the growth of external debt and inflation," he emphasized.
Member of the main opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) Zoya
Tadevosyan believes that after statements in Brussels Sargsyan should
have immediately resigned.
"If a senior official acknowledges that glaring iniquities are present
in his country, it means that he does not control the situation,"
said the oppositionist. She added that the head of the government
simply said what others have been talking about for a long time in
order to develop an image of a victim by means of confession.
Recently, Sargsyan has often reported on what has been done in the past
several years. He says that a powerful institution of the ombudsman
has been established, e-governance, e-tax reporting and a transparent
mechanism for business registration have been introduced.
Reforms are ongoing in the justice system, education, tax and customs
administration, a new pension system is being formed. Besides, a
program of developing export-oriented industries is being elaborated
with the help of the World Bank.
At the same time, the premier does not address the most painful
subjects that are of concern to society, in particular the deep
oligarchic nature of the economy.
The World Bank estimates that Armenia has a potential to collect 240
billion drams (about $623.3 million) more in taxes. The draft budget
for 2012 assumes an increase in the total tax burden by 101 billion
drams (around $262 million). This means that the government is trying
to get the economy out of the "shadow" gradually, without the so-called
"shock therapy", without hurting "the shadowy agents". Most of the
"shadow", according to the estimation of international financial
institutions, is concentrated in the mining industry. But the new law
on mineral resources does not provide for an increase in environmental
taxes.
Premier Sargsyan does not mention that for many years the sphere of
information technologies has been declared a priority of Armenia's
economy, but its share in Armenia's export does not increase. On
the contrary, good programmers simply leave the country because in
Armenia they have no conditions for equal competition.
The government likes to point out that in recent years Internet
penetration in the country has increased manifold, etc., disregarding
the fact that this is true on a global scale which naturally includes
Armenia.
Anyway, it still remains unclear whether society will swallow this
bait of the self-critical pre-election tactics or if the authorities
will again need to resort to fraud to get votes.