“He talks about those on the list, but there is also majoritarian representation; a part of them is elected that way. The problem is the following; it is one thing when a resident votes for the list, it is another thing when it is majoritarian representation. He wants to elect someone through majoritarian representation, so that he can turn to him, if he is in need. When we ask during our opinion polls ‘Why are you a village headman or an MP through majoritarian representation?’ he says ‘Because they ran to me, when they have a problem. Someone is sick and they should take him to the hospital, they come to me. So I have become the sponsor of this village. That is why he had better be governed by me, rather than by some patriotic
youth or a romantic person who cannot provide real, practical help,’” Aharon Adibekyan, a sociologist, said during a conversation with www.aravot.am, talking about President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement that there were no businessmen or oligarchs in the parliament, on the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) list, in particular, but the former thinks that there are oligarchs in the National Assembly nonetheless. “There are oligarchs in the parliament, but it doesn’t mean that the RPA brings oligarchs on its list, there are many professionals there, there are no rich people, and mostly rich people have appeared in the parliament through majoritarian representation; they organize their election campaigns themselves, they keep their offices themselves, and if they didn’t have that capacity, they couldn’t do that,” Adibekyan said, stating that the opinion polls of their center had shown that when people voted for a candidate announced for majoritarian representation, they voted for a benefactor who could help them. “That is why almost all benefactors have foundations; for example, the first were the Sukiasyan family who established a family foundation, which would help the whole electoral district in those years of darkness – lonely people, sick people, teachers, also the Komitas quartet, which would play for them and receive a salary. Is it bad…?”
Eva HAKOBYAN
