As I have already written, at least three parties are participating in this election campaign whose goal is not to secure enough votes and enter parliament, but to convince voters that the more or less influential opponents of their real candidate — namely, Pashinyan — are “Russian spies.”
At the same time, these propaganda groups (officially called “parties”) are promoting the idea that their de facto candidate is overly kind and democratic, whereas what really needs to be done is to draw the sword and cut off the heads of all the looters and “Russian stooges.”
This is done so that Pashinyan can display his “kindness” and say, “No, that’s not acceptable.” But the underlying message is: look at what the people are demanding. Compared to such bloodthirsty rhetoric, keeping opposition figures and clergymen behind bars, carrying out near-daily arrests and searches targeting opposition-minded citizens, and selectively launching criminal cases over “hate speech” begin to look like a fairly “mild approach.” The amusing part is that those advocating a dramatic escalation of pressure against political opponents present themselves as “pro-Western.”
Against the backdrop of these repressions, the pre-election delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued an interim statement essentially suggesting that, overall, everything in Armenia is OK in terms of holding democratic elections, except for the danger of external interference — meaning Russia. Such delegations probably meet with NGO representatives who have effectively become government propagandists, portraying everything in rosy colors and repeating the authorities’ “hybrid rhetoric.” They also likely meet with the aforementioned supposedly pro-European satellites participating in the campaign, who complain about Kremlin agents and about Pashinyan being excessively tolerant. They also hold purely formal meetings with parliamentary opposition factions, whose concerns are largely brushed aside.
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It could hardly be otherwise, because European leaders — both in Yerevan and back home — keep insisting that there is no alternative to Pashinyan. Consequently, if their favorite remains in power, these missions will declare the elections a triumph of democracy, even if Pashinyan were to shoot a thousand people. And if he loses, they will complain about “external interference.”
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
