In the context of many funny developments in the local elections that took place on Sunday, there were also cases when voters added former Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan’s name to the ballot and put a check mark next to his name. www.aravot.am inquired of Galust Sahakyan, the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group whether he didn’t think that such cases and low turnout were a démarche of the residents of Gyumri against the decision of the Republican Party. Mr. Sahakyan responded, “And who said that the people had to hate Vardan Ghukasyan. He worked as a mayor, I wouldn’t say he worked badly; certainly, they may have inclinations and may also carry out instructions. It is secret ballot and it is hard to make an assessment of it.”
As for the low turnout at the local elections, the parliamentary group leader explains it in the following manner, “The low rate of turnout is usually because the candidates do not do proper work. So if competitors are strong, the turnout rate is higher, since they work with the society better.”
Wasn’t the reason for that the fact that the elections had been predetermined? Galust Sahakyan opposed, “They were not predetermined, but we were convinced that we endorsed a strong candidate.” In response to a question of www.aravot.am whether they had consequently realized that he wasn’t that strong, Galust Sahakyan added, “I realized that he was very strong, it was just that the rivals hadn’t done enough work.”
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Our interlocutor notes that the turnout rate at the local elections is usually low and it is conditional on not so keen interest of political parties in local elections. We inquired whether legislators would not try to boost interest of political parties in local elections using legislative mechanisms, since they were perhaps the most important elections. Galust Sahakyan replied, “It is not a problem with law, our political parties must not take a passive attitude toward the activities of local governments, therefore, also toward local elections. At the end of the day, the society’s activity is conditional on the attitude of political forces.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
