According to the latest poll by Gallup International, the opposition forces ranking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the elections—“Strong Armenia,” “Prosperous Armenia,” and the “Armenia” alliance—will collectively receive more votes than Civil Contract.
According to the same poll, the “Armenia” alliance has 5.5 percent, while it needs 8 percent to pass the threshold (the electoral threshold for alliances). Of course, it would be ideal if that political force announced its withdrawal from the race, as most of its electorate would likely shift to the first two. However, knowing Robert Kocharyan’s character, I can predict with almost 100 percent certainty that this will not happen. One can only hope that the alliance will nevertheless “stretch” to reach 8 percent.
According to the same poll, the DOK party is in 5th place with 3.1 percent. However, to be honest, I have certain doubts about whether this party is truly opposition, considering what happened after the Yerevan City Council elections, when the party refused to support Hayk Marutyan, and as a result, Avinyan became mayor.
What should we, ordinary voters, do if we do not want Pashinyan to reproduce his power?
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Alexei Navalny, who died (or was killed) in a Putin prison, when he still had the opportunity to engage in politics, proposed the so-called “smart voting.” Although the idea is somewhat different, the principle is important—pragmatism, rising above personal sympathies.
In our case, “smart voting” would, in my view, be the following: to take the sociological survey we consider trustworthy and vote for the opposition force that is certain to enter parliament and about which there is no doubt that it will not fully or partially “change its mind” and side with the authorities.
That is how I, at least, will act. And the issue is not that this or that “passing” opposition force is dear to me. This “lyricism” should be set aside for now. What matters now is to stop the country’s deadly course. The remaining political, ideological, strategic, and tactical issues can be discussed later.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
