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ELECTION WITHOUT INTRIGUE OR WITHOUT ILLUSIONS
HAKOB BADALYAN
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/comments/view/28605
Comments - Thursday, 10 January 2013, 14:44
The upcoming presidential election is described as an election without
intrigues, though a number of candidates try to prove the opposite and
convince the public that they will fight against Serzh Sargsyan. But
the definition of the forthcoming election as one without intrigues
needs a comprehensive analysis. For example, if we judge the concept
of intrigue in terms of the common perception, then all the previous
presidential elections were full of intrigues except the election of
1991. In 1996, there was a serious battle between Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and Vazgen Manukyan, in 1998 the battle was between Karen Demirchyan
and Robert Kocharyan, in 2003 Robert Kocharyan and Stepan Demirchyan,
while in 2008 Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan. The intrigue has
always been there, while after each intrigue the state went deeper
into the marsh of totalitarian governance, economy divided to quotas,
criminal oligarchy. In other words, the efficiency of intrigue was
zero, or even less since it only crystallized the ruling system.
Consequently, if the so-called intrigue is what we saw in the previous
elections, then its lack in the 2013 election is not a big loss.
Moreover, strange though it may seem, it is a loss mainly for the
government. The society will not lose anything just because it did
not win anything when there was intrigue. In addition, the political
forces which caused election intrigues have always failed to maintain
it until the next election. Meanwhile, the loss of the government is
the disappearance of the arena for illusions of the public. Especially
that it is always easy to create illusions during elections taking
into account a number of objective and subjective electoral factors.
Consequently, in terms of public interest, taking into account the
experience and the political and electoral traditions of Armenia and
the systemic challenges that build a wall in front of the public,
the lack of intrigue may open up new opportunities for the public and
may help to forget illusions of the past 20 years. As to increased
cynicism of the authorities because of the "intrigue-free" election,
here the concerns are exaggerated. The point is that the factors
repressing the cynicism of the authorities are not the ARF, ANC and
PAP. There are a lot of other domestic and foreign factors, including
the aforementioned forces too, but their role is not decisive.
Moreover, these forces showed their willingness forces to enter into
deals with the authorities. In addition, not all of them take that
step out of political dishonesty and immorality, since sometimes it
is just the outcome of political ideas. But the difference is not big,
since the effect is against the society anyway.
From: Baghdasarian
HAKOB BADALYAN
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/comments/view/28605
Comments - Thursday, 10 January 2013, 14:44
The upcoming presidential election is described as an election without
intrigues, though a number of candidates try to prove the opposite and
convince the public that they will fight against Serzh Sargsyan. But
the definition of the forthcoming election as one without intrigues
needs a comprehensive analysis. For example, if we judge the concept
of intrigue in terms of the common perception, then all the previous
presidential elections were full of intrigues except the election of
1991. In 1996, there was a serious battle between Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and Vazgen Manukyan, in 1998 the battle was between Karen Demirchyan
and Robert Kocharyan, in 2003 Robert Kocharyan and Stepan Demirchyan,
while in 2008 Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan. The intrigue has
always been there, while after each intrigue the state went deeper
into the marsh of totalitarian governance, economy divided to quotas,
criminal oligarchy. In other words, the efficiency of intrigue was
zero, or even less since it only crystallized the ruling system.
Consequently, if the so-called intrigue is what we saw in the previous
elections, then its lack in the 2013 election is not a big loss.
Moreover, strange though it may seem, it is a loss mainly for the
government. The society will not lose anything just because it did
not win anything when there was intrigue. In addition, the political
forces which caused election intrigues have always failed to maintain
it until the next election. Meanwhile, the loss of the government is
the disappearance of the arena for illusions of the public. Especially
that it is always easy to create illusions during elections taking
into account a number of objective and subjective electoral factors.
Consequently, in terms of public interest, taking into account the
experience and the political and electoral traditions of Armenia and
the systemic challenges that build a wall in front of the public,
the lack of intrigue may open up new opportunities for the public and
may help to forget illusions of the past 20 years. As to increased
cynicism of the authorities because of the "intrigue-free" election,
here the concerns are exaggerated. The point is that the factors
repressing the cynicism of the authorities are not the ARF, ANC and
PAP. There are a lot of other domestic and foreign factors, including
the aforementioned forces too, but their role is not decisive.
Moreover, these forces showed their willingness forces to enter into
deals with the authorities. In addition, not all of them take that
step out of political dishonesty and immorality, since sometimes it
is just the outcome of political ideas. But the difference is not big,
since the effect is against the society anyway.
From: Baghdasarian