These elections were undoubtedly the most anti-democratic in the history of Armenia’s Third Republic.
Serious violations have occurred in the past as well, but never before have criminal cases been brought against the government’s three main political rivals (one of whom has been deprived of his liberty), while the head of the executive branch repeatedly threatened them with retribution throughout the campaign. It was as if he alone had the authority to decide who should be imprisoned and who should not.
Never before have Armenian citizens returning to the country been threatened with arrest or compulsory military training exercises, despite the fact that the schedule of the current three-month training cycle and the start of the next one were publicly known.
Nor has it happened before that influential opposition figures were detained on the eve of an election. I am referring primarily to Andranik Tevanyan and Armen Ashotyan. Just days before the vote, the authorities suddenly “remembered” crimes they had allegedly committed in the past. The word “crimes,” of course, deserves quotation marks, because these politically manufactured cases were absurd.
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There have been “collective voting” practices involving military personnel in previous elections as well, but never before were they carried out after polling stations had officially closed.
Nor has it happened that hundreds of opposition activists were arrested before an election on fabricated vote-buying charges. This was done not only as a show of force and to create an atmosphere of fear, but also to prevent those activists from exposing or obstructing the authorities’ unlawful actions. Such a crackdown did not occur before elections in the past, although something similar did happen after the 2008 election.
The rest belongs to the classic playbook of electoral fraud. For example, when it comes to the ruthless use of administrative resources, Civil Contract has introduced no particularly innovative know-how.
Even so, according to the official figures released by the compliant Central Electoral Commission, Civil Contract failed to secure 50 percent of the vote. That is a positive fact. I will discuss other positive developments in my next editorial.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
Photo: Political cartoon by Medialab.am
