YEREVAN (A.W.)—On the eve of Armenia’s Parliamentary elections that will be held on May 6, silence reigns in Yerevan. The month-long campaigns have halted, like the calm before a storm. Still, billboards and posters try to quietly persuade voters. “I’m your guy,” they whisper.
“There is an Armenian saying: Politics is prostitution, and politicians are prostitutes,” said Movses, a 29-year-old businessman from Yerevan.
“Come election time, and the streets get a makeover,” he said, pointing at the freshly paved street. “They want to win votes that way.”
In fact, many potential voters have lost trust in the integrity of most of the candidates. The lack of accountability plays a large part in the sense of hopelessness people feel (see my interview with Civilitas Director Salpi Ghazarian). “Money gives light in the darkest of places,” said Aram, a middle-aged cab driver from Yerevan. He doesn’t believe the elections will be fair. “It’s a business,” he said, adding that not a single candidate has inspired his trust.
Bribery is another factor, although its potency is unclear. Certain parties are accused of essentially buying votes. As parties stand accused of distributing goods to potential voters, the line between charity and bribery becomes blurry.
“This year the amount of money being spent on the elections is incredible, including for bribing voters. It is often said that it suits the country’s leadership that the people are living in bad socio-economic conditions, because they are the ones that accept bribes for votes,” said Gegham Manukyan, the director of Information and Political Programs at Yerkir Media TV, during an interview with the Weekly.
Meanwhile, the issue of voter fraud has summoned nearly 30,000 observers. But will they successfully prevent any foul play? “I don’t think the observers will be very useful,” said Manukyan. He believes foreign observers sent by international bodies like the OSCE are inclined to go easy on the ruling coalition, whose policies and position on issues such as Armenian-Turkish relations and the protocols are in line with the wishes of foreign powers.
Some parties, including the ARF, the Prosperous Armenia Party, and the Armenian National Congress—which together have formed an election oversight body—have demanded that the list of voters be made public after the elections to ensure a transparent process. That matter rests with Armenia’s Constitutional Court, which is expected to examine the matter this week.
As for election day, chances are everything will run fairly smoothly. “The country’s leadership is going to try to show that the elections were conducted fairly. The TV coverage is going to be really good this time around. All the channels will cover it, to show that the country is more democratic. However, all the illegal voting practices go on underground. Before they were overt. Now it’s all done in a more civil manner. In that respect, it resembles the U.S. Everything is free and fair, but everything is underground,” said Manukyan.
Ads and rallies—the last of which, the Republican Party rally in Republic Square, was interrupted disastrously when balloons caught fire and sent around 140 people to the hospital—are now over. Tomorrow, Armenians cast their votes.
Nanore Barsoumian
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