There is no open politics in Armenia; one man makes decisions in the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the process and mechanism of decision-making is not transparent. The Pan-Armenian National Movement (PANM) leader, Aram Manukyan, has defined that situation
very accurately, “What Levon-Ter-Petrossian does is right.” And Serzh Sargsyan’s and Gagik Tsarukyan’s supporters say basically the same thing. Such a situation causes at least three consequences: a. the mentioned people, their personal qualities notwithstanding, are practically deprived of any possibility to make the right decision; b. people that surround them are compelled to justify and praise every step taken by their leaders; c. those steps can be explained only by their “authors,” because the rest really don’t know the reasons for those and cannot do anything, except for lavishing praise. For example, in the barrage of commentaries and analyses, there was no official or semi-official answer to very simple questions – why didn’t the PAP leader enter for the electoral competition, did the decision he made for himself was to withdraw from the struggle and did the meetings of the PAP members in different regions of Armenia suggest that? Tigran Urikhanyan and the other famous members of that party don’t know the full answers to those questions, and that is why they are compelled to be satisfied with general definitions; everything is done for the sake of the people, their wellbeing etc.
However, despite all that, one can find some logic in the PAP attitude, which is probably caused by the economic and administrative pressure or the threat of it from the government, whereas the ANC path – after the famous political analysis – is beyond any logic. Certainly, the supporters of the Congress will now find words, which will describe the situation in positive colors. One can write, for example, that the fact that Gagik Tsarukyan hasn’t announced his candidacy is “the triumph of Ter-Petrossian’s strategy,” or that it struck “a deadly blow against the gang rule.” But as we know, one can say anything, but it won’t change the facts. It is clear for any unbiased man today that Levon Ter-Petrossian shouldn’t have used consultations as an excuse for waiting to see whether other candidates would be nominated or not; it belittles the first president’s political weight. The ANC shouldn’t have pinned hopes on the flaws inside the system caused by the contradictions between the RPA and the PAP; it should have played its own game.
Let us now wait to see whether Ter-Petrossian will be nominated or not. In both cases, I have no doubt that the ANC members will say that it is a brilliant move.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
