Tweet
ARMENIAN ELECTIONS 2012: POLITICAL HYPOCRISY
Hayk Khalatyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 10, 2012
Since the very start of its election campaign Prosperous Armenia
showed obvious signs of political amnesia.
Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on May 6, and people are
now assessing their outcomes, pondering over expectations from the new
"elects"; meanwhile, the political forces are summing up the results
and considering their future moves and potential alliances.
So, I decided to avail of the current political lull and sum up my
own voting outcomes, sharing my views on each of the race participants.
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) . RPA is the ruling party in the
country, and that's all; by saying 'authorities' we assume the RPA. It
is the major power responsible for the situation in the country and
solution of the current problems.
Considerable part of the Armenian population, neglecting their civil
duties and not bothering to think about the country's future, are
ready to sell their future for several thousand of Armenian drams to
those who pay more.
As some reasonable voices of the society state, given such attitude to
elections, people in some 20 years might as well favor the referendum
on surrendering Zangezur to Azerbaijan, with no remorse whatsoever.
Authorities must realize that if currently they benefit from such
public attitude towards civil duties, these "citizens" will hardly
be of any use for the state in case of jeopardy.
As to namely the elections, RPA has again dragged some notorious
tycoons through the next parliament, together with several political
bankrupts from other parties. All in all, they will again enjoy
unshakable majority in the parliament.
Also, ordinary people are left now with the RPA's electoral slogan
"Believe to make a change". They will definitely need belief, since
after previous RPA slogans saying "All for you, Armenia" and "Go,
Armenia" people saw no significant progress in their living standards,
to say the least.
Prosperous Armenia . Since the very start of its election campaign
Prosperous Armenia showed obvious signs of political amnesia. It
perhaps forgot being a member of the ruling coalition, and strived
to shift off the total responsibility for the hard social-economic
situation towards its major partner, RPA. Some top members of
Prosperous Armenia, in particular, ex-minister of foreign affairs
Vartan Oskanian outdid radical opposition figures in slamming the
authorities and the government.
In addition to political amnesia, the party appeared to have some
eyesight problems: by unmasking the electoral bribery and use of
administrative resources by RPA, it for some reason failed to see
the same actions by its own representatives.
The incident with "Vertu phone" belonging to party leader Gagik
Tsarukyan, or rather the comments it brought forward, is worth special
mentioning. Oskanian was the only person brave enough to admit the
truth, saying Tsarukyan did in fact carry a gun and not a "phone"
allegedly stated by others.
However, Prosperous Armenia deserves some positive remarks as well,
for its care for the development of the national agriculture; indeed,
distribution of tractors ahead of elections had nothing to do with
the voting. This was mere "charity", of course, and not hidden PR and
electoral bribe, as a dispassionate observer, unaware of the subtleties
of Armenian political "charity" might have inadvertently thought.
Regrettably, the urge for charity and benefaction, also manifested in
the neighborhood road renovation, is awakened in Armenian oligarchs
only a couple of months prior to elections, to vanish shortly
afterwards.
Still, this does not refer to Gagik Tsarukyan who, unlike many,
proceeds with his charity activities after elections as well.
To sum up the Prosperous Armenia topic, I'd mention here the odd
interpretation of the Armenian legislation by Gagik Tsarukyan. When
Prosperous Armenia's proxies were assaulted at a polling station during
the voting day, Tsarukyan declared that those behind the incident
"will be called to account before the law and him".
Orinats Yerkir. The party took a thorny path to enter the National
Assembly of the 5th convocation. Orinats Yerkir spared no effort
to develop Armenia's food industry during its election campaign
(fortunately, agriculture minister shares same party membership),
distributing national production jams to its supporters and ordinary
people.
Import was not ignored either, with mobile phones brought to
support the party in the voting. Leader of Orinats Yerkir, perfect
political speaker and secretary of the National Security Council
Artur Baghdasaryan again distinguished himself in duping the voters.
Opposition
Armenian National Congress (ANC) . The ANC had to pay a high price for
its itch to play on alleged disagreements within the ruling coalition
and spark a conflict between Prosperous Armenia and RPA.
ANC supporters have hardly swallowed the process of the political
dialogue with the authorities, and now they faced the need to take
black for white, i.e. perceive Prosperous Armenia as no longer a part
of the government.
ANC was also selectively struck blind with regard to violation of
electoral legislation, believing that only RPA and its appendix
Orinats Yerkir could break the law, unlike the Prosperous Armenia
that suddenly became dear to the opposition bloc.
Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian blaming current authorities
for election fraud was also rather touching; the present leadership
just follows the path paved in 1990 by pioneer first president and
his Armenian National Movement team, improving their methods to hit
new heights.
Voters were perhaps puzzled by this complicated logical trick, and did
not provide the support ANC expected to get: Ter-Petrossian and his
team definitely expected to garner far more than just 106000 of votes.
Therefore, the ANC leadership had to claim at its May 8 rally
its intention to appeal against the voting result in Armenia's
Constitutional Court (being totally aware of vainness of such move).
The heap of charges addressed to "Kocharian-Sargsyan regime" aimed
to merely conceal a simple and obvious thing, that is, ANC is heading
for the next parliament, thus recognizing the voting results and its
defeat in the recent vote.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun . During these elections Dashnaktsutyun compiled
an original "political cocktail" in the inter-party anti-forgery
headquarters with ANC (implying the Armenian National Movement)
and Prosperous Armenia party, a combination which appeared quite
perplexing for an ordinary voter.
Unlike Dashnaktsutyun leadership, the opposition voters did not
understand that politics has no eternal enemies or friends, while
goals sometimes justify methods and allies.
In this regard, an interesting picture emerged on May 6, with
Dashnaktsutyun top member Vahan Hovhannisyan sharing a table with
ex-president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, who once jailed
Hovhannisyan naming his a "terrorist".
As a result of such cooperation, Dashnaktsutyun had to overlook
violations of the electoral legislation by inter-party headquarters
member Prosperous Armenia, and issued a belated May 8 statement saying
that all members of the ruling coalition, including the Prosperous
Armenia party, are to blame for electoral fraud, particularly the
forged number of votes they "received".
Heritage. In case of Heritage, its alliance with Free Democrats was
the most interesting thing perhaps, liberal views being the only thing
these two had in common. Heritage leader had way too romantic views
with regard to political struggle in Armenia, while their allies,
once prominent members of the Armenian National Movement and ANC,
were too pragmatic.
The party's supporters were somewhat confused to see "newcomers"
rank on electoral list instead of those who served Heritage hand and
foot and were quite active in their parliamentary activities.
However, Heritage has been much illogical over the past years, with
its contradicting statements and moves.
Last but not least . Participation and role of the Democratic Party
of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and United Armenians
party in the recent voting is similar to roles of actors whose names
are listed at the bottom of the Cast section. All the three got less
than 2% in total, running by "Participation is more important than
victory" slogan.
I would also like to mention TV debates between majority system
candidates running in constituency 2, RPA's Samvel Farmanyan and ANC's
Vladimir Karapetyan. Both are educated people, even intellectuals,
I'd say, which they however failed to demonstrate during the debates.
Both candidates were absolutely unable to listen to their opponent
and follow the rules of a civilized discussion.
Following these debates, people just wondered: if this was the
battle between the most calm and educated members of these political
forces, what would debates between other notorious and passionate
representatives be like? Just imagine debates between, say, RPA's
Ruben Hayrapetyan and ANC's Nikol Pashinyan!
From: A. Papazian
Hayk Khalatyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 10, 2012
Since the very start of its election campaign Prosperous Armenia
showed obvious signs of political amnesia.
Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on May 6, and people are
now assessing their outcomes, pondering over expectations from the new
"elects"; meanwhile, the political forces are summing up the results
and considering their future moves and potential alliances.
So, I decided to avail of the current political lull and sum up my
own voting outcomes, sharing my views on each of the race participants.
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) . RPA is the ruling party in the
country, and that's all; by saying 'authorities' we assume the RPA. It
is the major power responsible for the situation in the country and
solution of the current problems.
Considerable part of the Armenian population, neglecting their civil
duties and not bothering to think about the country's future, are
ready to sell their future for several thousand of Armenian drams to
those who pay more.
As some reasonable voices of the society state, given such attitude to
elections, people in some 20 years might as well favor the referendum
on surrendering Zangezur to Azerbaijan, with no remorse whatsoever.
Authorities must realize that if currently they benefit from such
public attitude towards civil duties, these "citizens" will hardly
be of any use for the state in case of jeopardy.
As to namely the elections, RPA has again dragged some notorious
tycoons through the next parliament, together with several political
bankrupts from other parties. All in all, they will again enjoy
unshakable majority in the parliament.
Also, ordinary people are left now with the RPA's electoral slogan
"Believe to make a change". They will definitely need belief, since
after previous RPA slogans saying "All for you, Armenia" and "Go,
Armenia" people saw no significant progress in their living standards,
to say the least.
Prosperous Armenia . Since the very start of its election campaign
Prosperous Armenia showed obvious signs of political amnesia. It
perhaps forgot being a member of the ruling coalition, and strived
to shift off the total responsibility for the hard social-economic
situation towards its major partner, RPA. Some top members of
Prosperous Armenia, in particular, ex-minister of foreign affairs
Vartan Oskanian outdid radical opposition figures in slamming the
authorities and the government.
In addition to political amnesia, the party appeared to have some
eyesight problems: by unmasking the electoral bribery and use of
administrative resources by RPA, it for some reason failed to see
the same actions by its own representatives.
The incident with "Vertu phone" belonging to party leader Gagik
Tsarukyan, or rather the comments it brought forward, is worth special
mentioning. Oskanian was the only person brave enough to admit the
truth, saying Tsarukyan did in fact carry a gun and not a "phone"
allegedly stated by others.
However, Prosperous Armenia deserves some positive remarks as well,
for its care for the development of the national agriculture; indeed,
distribution of tractors ahead of elections had nothing to do with
the voting. This was mere "charity", of course, and not hidden PR and
electoral bribe, as a dispassionate observer, unaware of the subtleties
of Armenian political "charity" might have inadvertently thought.
Regrettably, the urge for charity and benefaction, also manifested in
the neighborhood road renovation, is awakened in Armenian oligarchs
only a couple of months prior to elections, to vanish shortly
afterwards.
Still, this does not refer to Gagik Tsarukyan who, unlike many,
proceeds with his charity activities after elections as well.
To sum up the Prosperous Armenia topic, I'd mention here the odd
interpretation of the Armenian legislation by Gagik Tsarukyan. When
Prosperous Armenia's proxies were assaulted at a polling station during
the voting day, Tsarukyan declared that those behind the incident
"will be called to account before the law and him".
Orinats Yerkir. The party took a thorny path to enter the National
Assembly of the 5th convocation. Orinats Yerkir spared no effort
to develop Armenia's food industry during its election campaign
(fortunately, agriculture minister shares same party membership),
distributing national production jams to its supporters and ordinary
people.
Import was not ignored either, with mobile phones brought to
support the party in the voting. Leader of Orinats Yerkir, perfect
political speaker and secretary of the National Security Council
Artur Baghdasaryan again distinguished himself in duping the voters.
Opposition
Armenian National Congress (ANC) . The ANC had to pay a high price for
its itch to play on alleged disagreements within the ruling coalition
and spark a conflict between Prosperous Armenia and RPA.
ANC supporters have hardly swallowed the process of the political
dialogue with the authorities, and now they faced the need to take
black for white, i.e. perceive Prosperous Armenia as no longer a part
of the government.
ANC was also selectively struck blind with regard to violation of
electoral legislation, believing that only RPA and its appendix
Orinats Yerkir could break the law, unlike the Prosperous Armenia
that suddenly became dear to the opposition bloc.
Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian blaming current authorities
for election fraud was also rather touching; the present leadership
just follows the path paved in 1990 by pioneer first president and
his Armenian National Movement team, improving their methods to hit
new heights.
Voters were perhaps puzzled by this complicated logical trick, and did
not provide the support ANC expected to get: Ter-Petrossian and his
team definitely expected to garner far more than just 106000 of votes.
Therefore, the ANC leadership had to claim at its May 8 rally
its intention to appeal against the voting result in Armenia's
Constitutional Court (being totally aware of vainness of such move).
The heap of charges addressed to "Kocharian-Sargsyan regime" aimed
to merely conceal a simple and obvious thing, that is, ANC is heading
for the next parliament, thus recognizing the voting results and its
defeat in the recent vote.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun . During these elections Dashnaktsutyun compiled
an original "political cocktail" in the inter-party anti-forgery
headquarters with ANC (implying the Armenian National Movement)
and Prosperous Armenia party, a combination which appeared quite
perplexing for an ordinary voter.
Unlike Dashnaktsutyun leadership, the opposition voters did not
understand that politics has no eternal enemies or friends, while
goals sometimes justify methods and allies.
In this regard, an interesting picture emerged on May 6, with
Dashnaktsutyun top member Vahan Hovhannisyan sharing a table with
ex-president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, who once jailed
Hovhannisyan naming his a "terrorist".
As a result of such cooperation, Dashnaktsutyun had to overlook
violations of the electoral legislation by inter-party headquarters
member Prosperous Armenia, and issued a belated May 8 statement saying
that all members of the ruling coalition, including the Prosperous
Armenia party, are to blame for electoral fraud, particularly the
forged number of votes they "received".
Heritage. In case of Heritage, its alliance with Free Democrats was
the most interesting thing perhaps, liberal views being the only thing
these two had in common. Heritage leader had way too romantic views
with regard to political struggle in Armenia, while their allies,
once prominent members of the Armenian National Movement and ANC,
were too pragmatic.
The party's supporters were somewhat confused to see "newcomers"
rank on electoral list instead of those who served Heritage hand and
foot and were quite active in their parliamentary activities.
However, Heritage has been much illogical over the past years, with
its contradicting statements and moves.
Last but not least . Participation and role of the Democratic Party
of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and United Armenians
party in the recent voting is similar to roles of actors whose names
are listed at the bottom of the Cast section. All the three got less
than 2% in total, running by "Participation is more important than
victory" slogan.
I would also like to mention TV debates between majority system
candidates running in constituency 2, RPA's Samvel Farmanyan and ANC's
Vladimir Karapetyan. Both are educated people, even intellectuals,
I'd say, which they however failed to demonstrate during the debates.
Both candidates were absolutely unable to listen to their opponent
and follow the rules of a civilized discussion.
Following these debates, people just wondered: if this was the
battle between the most calm and educated members of these political
forces, what would debates between other notorious and passionate
representatives be like? Just imagine debates between, say, RPA's
Ruben Hayrapetyan and ANC's Nikol Pashinyan!
From: A. Papazian