If the rumors are right that the RPA will be participating in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, then that will be a risky step for the Republicans, to put it nicely. I can confidently say that the political party will not be in the parliament; it does not have the appropriate electorate. Perhaps simply participating is their business. Perhaps it will be helpful to know one’s characteristics during free elections.
But the RPA, as well as Kocharyan’s possible participation, will negatively affect the entire atmosphere surrounding election rallies. The other participants in the election battle, letting go of their primary campaigns, will be busy bashing the former authorities (who, again, have no chance of being elected whatsoever). The entire subject and agenda of the election campaigns will not be the future, but the past. Not how we can make sure that our country is safe and prosperous, but how the former authorities have placed Armenia in a deep state of doom over the past 20 to 30 years. Their judgment (you stole from the people, you made us leave our country, you destroyed the country, you gave 800 hectares of land to the enemy, etc.) will mostly be justified, but, on the other hand, most of it will also be unnecessary, because speaking of such things now doesn’t demand either the valiance of the people or deep analytical thought.
In a normal, calm environment, deputies such as Vigen Sargsyan, Davit Harutyunyan, and Arpine Hovhannisyan would definitely bring honor to any country’s parliament. But at the moment, our citizens don’t care about this whatsoever. The heart of the people, as they say, is full of immense hatred, and their justified rage is also a part of the natural desire to “mix wet and dry together.”
No matter what the aforementioned deputies say, no matter what healthy, reasonable suggestions they make, their competitors and fellow citizens will pressure them and ask the rhetorical questions of, “Haven’t you stolen enough from the people? And now you want more?” Their justifications of “We didn’t steal, and the ones who stole continue to prosper” will not be heard by anyone. Therefore, if the RPA still has not made a decision, then it would benefit both them and the state to not participate in the elections whatsoever and at least wait another year. But what do we know? Maybe they have other plans.
