In my notes this week, I will try to present my observations of the recent elections. I will begin with the most interesting participant, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). As it is already known, according to preliminary data from the Central Electoral Commission, the RPA received 59,068 votes- or 4.7 percent- being very close to the 5 percent border.
It’s very obvious that the former ruling party has been rejected by the majority of our society. The former authorities are accused of many true and mythical faults. Society understands “former authorities” to be interchangeable with the RPA, which I do not think is true, since there were other parties that made up the former authorities, as well as individuals who were not a part of the RPA’s pre-election list.
It’s said that if the RPA voted in favor of the new Electoral Code, it would have entered parliament as the fourth force due to there being a four percent border. I am, once again, only partially in agreement. The rating system in the current code was beneficial for the RPA (as well as for Prosperous Armenia), and if that system was not in place, the Republicans would have perhaps received fewer votes.
The RPA did not do poorly during the campaigns while using the black-and-white perspective and being able to unite those people who felt good under their leadership. They were also able to make people feel very negatively about the current authorities. Despite the fact that many people criticized Shahnazaryan’s, Ashotyan’s, and Sharmazanov’s speeches, they exacerbated the situation and appealed to the emotions of people who are “anti-Nikol.”
One of the few but crucial mistakes that the RPA made during the campaigns became obvious during the television debate. The head of the party’s list, Vigen Sargsyan, is a very intellectual and knowledgeable individual. Speaking about the LGBT and activists in a negative context can influence “mid-democratic” level individuals (“These dirty Europeans want to destroy Armenian families”), as well as gain the liking of an array of people. But it was more beneficial for Vigen Sargsyan, I think, to not become involved with “Armenian gene” populism, stay on his own level, and not speak about this subject. Getting involved in this case gave the Prime Minister the opportunity to turn his opponent’s words against him and gain points from the aforementioned array of people. This episode, along with the fact that there were several unpleasant people included on the RPA list, perhaps prevented the former ruling party from getting a couple thousand more votes and thus, being able to enter parliament.
Aram Abrahamyan
