There is a clear test to know whether a political party is a well-established structure or if it has an ideological basis on behalf of one person to satisfy their expectations. It is satisfactory to watch or read the interviews of the members of this party and count how many times they mention the name of the party’s head. If they say it 4-5 times in 20 minutes, then you’ll know that the party exists due to the efforts of its leader (and their money) and without that person, the party does not represent anything.
Of course, Civil Contract is also one person’s party, and the majority of citizens voted for Nikol Pashinyan in the previous elections and not My Step, but that is a different issue.
According to the preliminary results of the recent elections, Rule of Law received 12,389 votes, which makes up 0.99 percent of voters. As part of Armenian Renaissance, Rule of Law received 58,265 (3.72 percent) votes in 2017, and again did not enter parliament. Of course, we can say that the results of the elections in 2017 were falsified, pictures were taken, and more. But if everyone accepts that everything was fair this time, then why did their ratings decrease by about five percent?
There are several reasons. I have already said the first one- the time for political parties established by one person without an ideology is over. Not only should Rule of Law and Prosperous Armenia remember that, but the ruling party too. Secondly, Rule of Law was repeating what it did a year and a half ago- we were the ones to return deposits, we made daycares in Yerevan free, we were the ones to prevent the privatization of schools and polyclinics. Even if that were completely true, work done in the past cannot be used to attract people during every election.
The main reason is the events of 2008, and after the March 1, 2008 incident, Artur Baghdasaryan entered the ruling coalition and became the secretary of the National Assembly Council. I am not referring to what took place in reality; that does not interest anyone. I am referring to the way society understands things, the stereotypes and myths that have taken over the minds of the majority of citizens. I don’t know if Rule of Law will ever be successful in breaking that stereotype.
Aram Abrahamyan
