The election campaigns end today, and I want to share my personal impressions- as always, without showing preference toward anyone or giving a lecture.
First, I believe that the scandalous nature of this campaign was mostly determined by the fact that there was excessive urgency in calling the elections, as well as the fact that Pashinyan remained the head of state during these months. It is clear that these two circumstances create an opportunity for the government to reproduce itself, and the opposition, which carried out street protests, could not and did not have enough resources to impose another scenario.
In these conditions, the populist in power who has been disgracefully overthrown and who has lost his “qualified” electorate from 2018 but continues to enjoy the support of thousands of people to “build” and “insult” can do nothing but gather and provoke that electorate. (As well as, of course, the administrative resources and the opportunities of the rich “at hand”).
Within the same conditions, his main competitor can only be the second president, who has been buried in many accusations, but who also has many material and organizational means. He captivates a multi-layered audience with his harsh rhetoric, from those who want revenge for the political defeat of 2018 to those who understand that the only way to get rid of Pashinyan is to support Kocharyan.
Read also
In this situation, I am not at all impressed by who “brings” how many people to the rallies. It is clear that the main candidates are intimidating each other with “the people,” “the masses,” and the threats made against those masses. Quantity does not matter to me. Even if 2.5 million people vote for Kocharyan or Pashinyan (by the way, in reality we do not have that many voters; the voter lists are obviously inflated), I will still be sure that 2.5 million are wrong, they are mistaken.
By rejecting these two candidates, many people are seeking an alternative. I am among them. But this time, I do not have any obvious preferences. Many people are accurately describing today’s bitter reality; I cannot do that either. But politicians and political forces are different from journalists, publicists, and analysts in the sense that they have visions for the future and programs that will seem realistic and feasible to us, the electorate. If everything is lost and nothing can be done, then what is the point of entering the political, pre-election struggle?
Thus, yes, I will vote (not voting is wrong), and I will vote for any political party or alliance besides two. But I have not yet decided which one.
Aram Abrahamyan
