TRAP FOR RULING REGIME
Siranuysh Papyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/interview/view/28636
20:05 15/01/2013
Interview with Manvel Sargsyan, head of ACNIS
Mr. Sargsyan, one of the candidates proposes leaving Serzh Sargsyan
alone in the campaign. His proposal has been declined. Most political
parties boycott the election. Will there be an unprecedented political
situation if they fail to run in the election?
Everyone understands there is nothing new, it is the same irrational
situation. During every election parties use the same algorithm -
if the elections are falsified, our candidate will win so do vote,
protect your votes, and we will win. And after every election they say
the regime again falsified the election. People have got used to this.
This time everything is different. The nominees have launched an
interesting discourse. Some political activists are trying to follow
the tradition and adjust the election to the old algorithm but it will
encounter a different discourse for the first time in Armenia. The
new discourse "allows" Serzh Sargsyan to get his 100% but he will not
digest it. Now a discussion is underway between these two discourses,
and everyone wants to know whether the old tradition will be followed.
As to boycott, everyone interprets it in their way. People accuse
each other that the proposed boycott means staying at home and doing
nothing but some people view boycott as a creative method of changing
the situation. Everyone says the elections in Armenia have become a
ritual and there are no real elections this may become a trap for the
ruling regime because it cannot reject elections - the only mechanism
of their reproduction. In other countries people were able to push the
government into the trap during the elections. A similar thinking may
develop in Armenia, and most people will make sure it is possible to
achieve success in this way. This process leads where the decision of
the society will be made because it is impossible in a small group. In
Armenia an open policy is starting, public opinion may generate
change. If the previous algorithm is unusable, the society must come
up with other proposals which may lead to the change of this regime.
The society must arrive to that on its own - if it rejects the old
algorithm, there will be nothing the old politicians will do, and if
the society does not accept the new proposal, it will have to remain
in the old algorithm. People are not interested in programs, in how
much their salaries will grow because they understand that you will
not be able to do it unless you are able to change the government.
People are interested in political change. The candidates may propose
a new algorithm.
Most candidates follow the old algorithm. Three candidates are
nominated from one election to another.
The algorithm does not depend on age. Most young people of the Armenian
National Congress say since they have not nominated their candidate,
they will go to the voting station, write on the ballot the name of
their candidate and void the ballot. These are elements which form a
new situation. We need to get rid of this bad algorithm. When people
know it is meaningless to run in the election, they do not go.
There is an opinion that people will vote for Serzh Sargsyan because
he appears to them as the safeguard of peaceful life for another
few years.
The segment which says it is unacceptable forms trends. We need to
understand the causes of the current situation - we have passed through
war, hardship, and people think that's enough. There are also deeper
reasons which date back to the Soviet period when the stereotype was
crystallized that decisions are not made by the society but by the
select ones. Now these images and thinking are reviewed, it is their
crisis. The society has understood the cause of their problems and
proposed something new.
Will the regime remove the source of trouble?
How can the regime remove itself?
Will there be an alternative after this fermentation?
The society will see the alternative. There are ideas, the question
is whether the society accepts them. Politics is a process related
to the society, and as soon as the idea becomes the property of the
society, it becomes an alternative approach to life.
From: Baghdasarian
Siranuysh Papyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/interview/view/28636
20:05 15/01/2013
Interview with Manvel Sargsyan, head of ACNIS
Mr. Sargsyan, one of the candidates proposes leaving Serzh Sargsyan
alone in the campaign. His proposal has been declined. Most political
parties boycott the election. Will there be an unprecedented political
situation if they fail to run in the election?
Everyone understands there is nothing new, it is the same irrational
situation. During every election parties use the same algorithm -
if the elections are falsified, our candidate will win so do vote,
protect your votes, and we will win. And after every election they say
the regime again falsified the election. People have got used to this.
This time everything is different. The nominees have launched an
interesting discourse. Some political activists are trying to follow
the tradition and adjust the election to the old algorithm but it will
encounter a different discourse for the first time in Armenia. The
new discourse "allows" Serzh Sargsyan to get his 100% but he will not
digest it. Now a discussion is underway between these two discourses,
and everyone wants to know whether the old tradition will be followed.
As to boycott, everyone interprets it in their way. People accuse
each other that the proposed boycott means staying at home and doing
nothing but some people view boycott as a creative method of changing
the situation. Everyone says the elections in Armenia have become a
ritual and there are no real elections this may become a trap for the
ruling regime because it cannot reject elections - the only mechanism
of their reproduction. In other countries people were able to push the
government into the trap during the elections. A similar thinking may
develop in Armenia, and most people will make sure it is possible to
achieve success in this way. This process leads where the decision of
the society will be made because it is impossible in a small group. In
Armenia an open policy is starting, public opinion may generate
change. If the previous algorithm is unusable, the society must come
up with other proposals which may lead to the change of this regime.
The society must arrive to that on its own - if it rejects the old
algorithm, there will be nothing the old politicians will do, and if
the society does not accept the new proposal, it will have to remain
in the old algorithm. People are not interested in programs, in how
much their salaries will grow because they understand that you will
not be able to do it unless you are able to change the government.
People are interested in political change. The candidates may propose
a new algorithm.
Most candidates follow the old algorithm. Three candidates are
nominated from one election to another.
The algorithm does not depend on age. Most young people of the Armenian
National Congress say since they have not nominated their candidate,
they will go to the voting station, write on the ballot the name of
their candidate and void the ballot. These are elements which form a
new situation. We need to get rid of this bad algorithm. When people
know it is meaningless to run in the election, they do not go.
There is an opinion that people will vote for Serzh Sargsyan because
he appears to them as the safeguard of peaceful life for another
few years.
The segment which says it is unacceptable forms trends. We need to
understand the causes of the current situation - we have passed through
war, hardship, and people think that's enough. There are also deeper
reasons which date back to the Soviet period when the stereotype was
crystallized that decisions are not made by the society but by the
select ones. Now these images and thinking are reviewed, it is their
crisis. The society has understood the cause of their problems and
proposed something new.
Will the regime remove the source of trouble?
How can the regime remove itself?
Will there be an alternative after this fermentation?
The society will see the alternative. There are ideas, the question
is whether the society accepts them. Politics is a process related
to the society, and as soon as the idea becomes the property of the
society, it becomes an alternative approach to life.
From: Baghdasarian