by David Petrosian 

 

Campaigning is underway for the upcoming presidential election in Armenia. Calling it strange is tantamount to saying almost nothing. Nevertheless, we would like to dwell on some curious moments. 

 

For example, the British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Catherine Leach expressed her viewpoint about the ongoing election campaign in the country. She hailed President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement about his readiness to hold the best presidential election. At the same time she expressed regret that none of the three main opposition forces is running in the election and supporting other candidates. 

 

The British ambassador is trying to understand the reason why those forces are not running in the election, assuming that they decided not to run because of financial problems, or lack of trust in fair results, or perhaps these forces are not opposition in reality (?!) Ambassador Leach, quite rightly, indicates the circumstance that the number of Armenian voters continues to grow, despite the population’s migration from the country. 

 

We believe that Ambassador Leach has somewhat exceeded her authority when making public and subjective statements about political processes in Armenia and posting them on her official blog. 

Diplomats usually express such opinions in their closed memos sent to foreign ministries of the countries they represent. 

 

Nevertheless, in connection with Ambassador Leach’s statements, we venture to say that: 

 

- the incumbent Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan  is not the first and, apparently, not the last Armenian president to promise the best elections to the international community. In order to refresh her memory, we recommend Ms. Leach to look at the press reports released five years ago when the then President Robert Kocharian and the then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan promised to hold the best elections. Everyone knows the result of those promises. Officials in Yerevan have long ago realized that ahead of elections they can make ANY promises as no one will demand their fulfillment; 

 

- in order to understand the motivation for the refusal of Armenia’s three main opposition forces (in the last parliamentary elections they received some 650 thousand votes together ) to run in the election by fielding their own candidates, Ambassador Leach should contact … her compatriots. We would like to remind the reader that since 1998 (to be more precise, during the presidential elections in 1998, 2003 and 2008, as well as the parliamentary elections in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2012) the PACE observation missions – by a strange coincidence – have been headed ONLY by subjects of Her Majesty. In all those elections they recorded “progress” and recognized the elections both de jure and de facto. It is also noteworthy that at the 2005 Constitutional referendum in Armenia, almost half of the Council of Europe observation mission was made up of representatives of France and the United Kingdom; 

 

- the British ambassador ought to know that there is no independent press (we mean financially independent press) in the country, even though such a press existed only ten years ago. Currently 90% of the press is controlled by the “party in power”, while the remaining 10% are under strong influence of various political forces (ARF-Dashnaktsutyun, Prosperous Armenia Party, and Armenian National Congress);

 

- the political opposition actually has no legal sources of finance. Big businessmen risk losing their property, in the event they provide financial assistance to the opposition, one example is the raider seizure by authorities of Bzhni Plant making part of SIL Group owned by Khachatur Sukiasian. Let us remind you that Sukiasian sponsored the election campaign of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian in 2008. For edification of all “potential renegades”, the plant was transferred into ownership of oligarch Ruben Hayrapetian, who is loyal to the authorities. 

 

The ex-Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian is positioning himself as the main rival to the incumbent president. His political team claims that their leader’s participation in the election campaign completely ensures political competition in the upcoming election.

 

We will not challenge this opinion, nor will we voice our theses about the uncompetitive character of the upcoming election.  We will pay attention to something else, namely the videos, in which his family members laud him. Perhaps it is customary to do such things in the United States, but Armenia is not the U.S. and people here do not usually express in public their enthusiastic opinions about their father or spouse. 

 

Another example: one of the ex-foreign minister’s sons claims that his father resigned to struggle against the three presidents. But in 1992 there was only one president and not three ones. Besides, R. Hovannisian was ordered to resign, i.e. he was dismissed. Finally, in 2008 he supported L. Ter-Petrosian in the presidential election. Besides, R. Hovannisian cooperated with second President Robert Kocharian, serving as CEO of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund during Kocharian’s presidency. 

Let us also remind you that Raffi Hovannisian attended the inauguration ceremony of President Sargsyan, held on the 40th day after the 1 March 2008 slaughter that left ten people dead. 

 

Naturally, all these episodes raise a multitude of questions among undecided voters of the “protest electorate” whom the ex-foreign minister’s image would attract. 

 

Despite the existing problems, the participation of Raffi Hovannisian – the first representative of Armenian American Diaspora – in the presidential election is a unique precedent which paves the way for other potential aspirants from the Diaspora to run in future elections. 

 

On January 19 the main contender for victory, incumbent president gave an interview to Radio Liberty. In the interview, he offered his vision of the political situation in Armenia and answered several questions of interest to society. Later the election program of S. Sargsyan was also presented. 

 

To be frank, the president disappointed. Armenian society wants changes, whereas he does not speak about reforms. During his meetings with voters, S. Sargsyan promises “not to loaf away” during his term. 

 

As regards corruption, the president counts on society to help him fight corruption. That is quite OK, but perhaps the head of the state should speak about the need to create at last an anti-corruption legislative base. The existing legislative base is obviously inadequate for fighting corruption effectively.

 

The president’s position on the 1 March 2008 events is interesting. He believes that EVERYBODY is to blame for those events. When translated from the language of former communist functionaries, this means that nobody is to blame and, more importantly, that nobody will look for those guilty of deaths of ten people. Sargsyan forgets his own public promise made in April 2011, when he said that he as the country’s president will make efforts to disclose that monstrous crime. At that time the respective instructions were also given publicly to law enforcement agencies. 

 

Currently – unlike in 2011 - there are no tens of thousands of protesters in Yerevan streets so one can forget the promises given two years ago. 

 

The hunger strike of presidential candidate Andreas Ghukasian with his inarticulate demands and the threats of another candidate, Aram Harutyunian, to go on hunger strike or withdraw his candidacy on February 8, unfortunately, enhance the theatrical background of the upcoming election, but do not add political intrigue to it. 

 

Interestingly, on a number of Armenian websites that provide one with the opportunity to vote for this or that presidential candidate, epos expert Vardan Sedrakian is among the leaders. This shows that despite the extremely uninteresting election campaign, Armenian voters have not lost their sense of humor.   

 

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