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POPULISTS AREN'T WELCOME IN ARMENIA
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country25592.html
Published: 12:38:45 - 27/03/2012
Why is the opposition in Armenia not uniting? Raffi Hovhannisian's
attempts to reach an agreement with other opposition forces - the
Armenian National Congress and Dashnaktsutyun - to have joint nominees
for precincts did not produce any results. Though it was clear from
the very beginning because Dashnaktsutyun would never support the
Congress candidates and vice versa.
It means that Raffi Hovhannisian has not proposed the best platform for
cooperation and it is necessary to seek for others. The observation
of elections can be a platform but the opposition fails to agree on
this issue too.
In case the Congress, ARFD, Heritage and Free Democrats receive
enough votes to be elected to parliament they will hardly form a
united opposition. After the elections, besides the Republican and
Prosperous Armenia Parties, other blocs will be formed as well. In
addition, they will not be formed on the basis of the opposition or
pro-government characteristics but on the decision of the parties
whom to support in the next 2013 presidential elections.
In this relation, the ARFD and Prosperous Armenia may form a bloc
which do not hide their loyalty to Robert Kocharyan. So, there will
be a three-pole parliament.
The inability of the opposition parties to cooperate is not only due to
the presidential elections. The point is the difference understanding
of elections which the traditional Armenian politicians accept as an
anticipatory division of seats. In Armenia, it is always clear from
the beginning how many seats each will get and these predictions
generally come true.
In this connection, it is clear that the ANC and ARFD will not even
try to cooperate - even for the sake of populism. They understand that
decisions are made somewhere else, and populism is luxury in Armenia.
Raffi Hovhannisian is apparently trying to introduce another
methodology - unpredictability of the results of elections and
their dependence on the opinion of voters. His populist steps can be
explained by this. Apparently, he still hopes that this election at
least partly will depend on the voters' choice.
Populism in Armenia is perceived as something negative though every
party needs to engage in it. Populism is an attempt to attract the
attention of voters to their positive steps and proposals to receive
more votes. But if the opinion of voters does not decide anything,
and the numbers of votes are decided in a different manner, populism
becomes effective.
In Armenia, already some public opinion polls are held to try to guess
the possible outcome of elections but apparently it is necessary to
interview those who made the decision beforehand and write the numbers.
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country25592.html
Published: 12:38:45 - 27/03/2012
Why is the opposition in Armenia not uniting? Raffi Hovhannisian's
attempts to reach an agreement with other opposition forces - the
Armenian National Congress and Dashnaktsutyun - to have joint nominees
for precincts did not produce any results. Though it was clear from
the very beginning because Dashnaktsutyun would never support the
Congress candidates and vice versa.
It means that Raffi Hovhannisian has not proposed the best platform for
cooperation and it is necessary to seek for others. The observation
of elections can be a platform but the opposition fails to agree on
this issue too.
In case the Congress, ARFD, Heritage and Free Democrats receive
enough votes to be elected to parliament they will hardly form a
united opposition. After the elections, besides the Republican and
Prosperous Armenia Parties, other blocs will be formed as well. In
addition, they will not be formed on the basis of the opposition or
pro-government characteristics but on the decision of the parties
whom to support in the next 2013 presidential elections.
In this relation, the ARFD and Prosperous Armenia may form a bloc
which do not hide their loyalty to Robert Kocharyan. So, there will
be a three-pole parliament.
The inability of the opposition parties to cooperate is not only due to
the presidential elections. The point is the difference understanding
of elections which the traditional Armenian politicians accept as an
anticipatory division of seats. In Armenia, it is always clear from
the beginning how many seats each will get and these predictions
generally come true.
In this connection, it is clear that the ANC and ARFD will not even
try to cooperate - even for the sake of populism. They understand that
decisions are made somewhere else, and populism is luxury in Armenia.
Raffi Hovhannisian is apparently trying to introduce another
methodology - unpredictability of the results of elections and
their dependence on the opinion of voters. His populist steps can be
explained by this. Apparently, he still hopes that this election at
least partly will depend on the voters' choice.
Populism in Armenia is perceived as something negative though every
party needs to engage in it. Populism is an attempt to attract the
attention of voters to their positive steps and proposals to receive
more votes. But if the opinion of voters does not decide anything,
and the numbers of votes are decided in a different manner, populism
becomes effective.
In Armenia, already some public opinion polls are held to try to guess
the possible outcome of elections but apparently it is necessary to
interview those who made the decision beforehand and write the numbers.