Is it worth holding snap parliamentary elections in the coming months? There is no definite answer to that question. On one hand, the conditions in society and the state are not such that groups of politicians can go and speak to citizens about specific projects. In addition, regardless of the results of the elections, I do not believe that people’s passions will subside. Our society is too divided to reach a consensus in elections.
If there are tens of thousands of citizens who believe that Pashinyan is a traitor who must be arrested, and there are approximately just as many or even more people who believe that the current Prime Minister is a national hero who saved the people from ‘thieves,’ then it will be difficult to convince people who hold those two extreme beliefs (both of which are, in my opinion, wrong) to set aside their differences.
But, on the other hand, how can we check if the current Prime Minister should stay in power or if he should resign? I think the only way is through elections.
But the main debate that is taking place today is not so much about the necessity of snap elections (it seems that there is a general consensus on that issue), as much as there is regarding who will hold those elections. The majority of the opposition believes that the elections will be rigged if they are held during Pashinyan’s time in power. There is a basis for such claims. For example, some evidence proving this includes the widespread use of administrative resources and the oligarchy to organize a rally in support of the government on March 1st. Another manifestation of the government’s ‘standard behavior’ is blaming things on the opposition. In these matters, the current Prime Minister presents himself as a sworn “pro-Serzh/Robert” individual.
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But aren’t the same suspicions legitimate if the ‘17+’ parties are in power during the elections? Let us remember that there are parties in this bloc that are considered ‘well-known masters of electoral fraud’ without exaggeration. The Republican and Prosperous Armenia parties have been involved in this- let’s be clear- genocidal task many times, and the ARF has taken advantage of the results many times. By the way, one of my friends in the Diaspora recently asked me, “Why do so many people have a poor opinion of the Dashnaks in Armenia?” My response was clear: regardless of the service the ARF has provided to the Armenian nation, the people of Armenia are more concerned with the fact that this political party made up part of Robert Kocharyan’s and Serzh Sargsyan’s administrations.
Of course, we have political parties that were not involved in electoral fraud. But what guarantees are in place to ensure that they won’t express themselves in the standard manner once they get a taste for power? The standards that are accepted in Armenia, of course.
Aram Abrahamyan
