Is it possible to say today that we have overcome the political crisis? Independent political analyst Edgar Vardanyan told Aravot Daily in an interview that it is initially important to understand the content and basis of that crisis. His research has shown that different players and commentators have interpreted the crisis differently given different content to the concept, so it has a subjective perception and a subjective judgment. So the question of whether the crisis has been overcome or not depends. On one hand, yes, it has been overcome; on the other, it hasn’t.
The convincing victory of the Civil Contract shows that the government and Pashinyan have broad public support, and the majority of voters trust the government. “If legitimacy was in question, it can no longer be questioned,” Vardanyan said? Were the results registered by the Prosperous Armenia and the ANC not exceeding the threshold expected? In response to this question, Mr. Vardanyan said that most of the Prosperous Armenia votes went to Robert Kocharyan. “And since Robert Kocharyan was, so to speak, the leader of the counter-revolutionary camp, he was able to pull most of the electorate of the counter-revolutionary field to his side. In that sense, Prosperous Armenia did not seem to resist.” According to Mr. Vardanyan, Prosperous Armenia seemed to be conducting a rather modest campaign this time, unlike in the previous elections.
Did ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrossian’s rhetoric affect the outcome? Vardanyan said yes. “Everyone understood that the revolutionary agenda was to prevent the return of the former, and the only force that had a real opportunity was the Civil Contract, so many citizens chose the Civil Contract to help defeat this force, preventing the possible return of the former and, in particular, Robert Kocharyan’s victory. It should be noted that the ANC’s electorate is similar to the Civil Contract’s electorate in many ways; at least, the issue that they equally do not want the return of the former regime is their commonality.
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For many, Levon Ter-Petrossian’s assessments could really seem too harsh, and they could be rejected somewhere. There is another important factor: people were inclined to support the optimistic agenda, and there was a desire to get out of the depressive state. For many, the Civil Contract slogan ‘There is a future’ was more attractive, and the pessimistic assessments and predictions presented by Ter-Petrossian were not motivating. Why should people vote for the political force that says everything will be bad, we can not change anything, we have lost everything, and ‘Get serious?’ The assessments may have played a role in the ANC as well. However, some potential voters abstained from voting or, in all likelihood, voted in favor of the Civil Contract. But the main factor was that many people were aware that only the Civil Contract has broad support, and it can actually prevent the return of the former regime,” said Edgar Vardanyan.
Nelly Babayan
