These days, television airwaves are overflowing with pre-election campaign advertisements, and the public is actively discussing elections. Taxi drivers are also trying to evaluate the pre-election campaign. Will they participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections? As a rule, the drivers responded with the following question in response: “What party do you represent?”
“These elections are going to be a fiasco”
Driver Ruben says that most of his passengers are partisans.
“They get on my nerves when they say our party is going to do this, our party is going to do that. When are they going to get elected so we can all calm down? That is why I thought you were conducting a campaign or something when you asked me,” he says and tried to analyze the inner-political situation.
“These elections are going to be a fiasco, mark my words. Take a look at the aggressive struggle. I try to follow-up on the news every day and am amazed when they announced that something happened. Just watch the news for a week and you will see that something happens every day. One day they shoot somebody, the next they blow up somebody’s car or headquarters, arrest, beat, kill. I can imagine how everything is going to boil over around May 7-8. The most terrifying thing is that we have never heard that some crime has been solved. For example, the explosion of the party headquarters of “Prosperous Armenia”. After all, there were residents living in peace who suffered from that explosion. The fear is enough for a person to get diabetes, right? Now they say everything is fine and that there is nothing wrong. They say that the police will find out what happened, but we know that they are not going to do anything about it. All crimes are forgotten over time,” says Ruben and confesses that as a citizen of Armenia, he is scared.
“I am scared because I have two children who are university students. I am not going to let them leave the house on Election Day. I think to myself: what if we go out to vote and somebody shoots somebody else at that moment, or what if a fight starts in one of the precincts? Who will take care of us if something happens-the police? The police are standing up for the strong in order to hide, not to reveal. Each day I tell my children before they leave the house: be careful. There are many fighters for the elections in the institutes as well. My son says that young boys get mixed up in those dirty games. They are young and hot-tempered. They won’t listen to each other and get into a debate. If something happens to my kids, I will be lost. I have forbidden them to get into the dirty political games,” says Ruben and calls on the Armenian authorities to at least formally solve one case and punish the criminal.
“They should at least do that for their reputation so that they can look straight in the public eye; otherwise there is no limit to the illegalities.”
They are polluting the city with their pictures
Driver Sargis is frustrated by the pre-election campaign posters polluting the walls of the city.
“What are they doing? They are polluting the city, including the Dashnaktsutyun, Artashes Geghamyan…what about Stepan Demirchyan? He talks about constitutionalism. Aren’t they ashamed of themselves? They are opposition only by name. Which one of them is going to clean the dirt off the walls after the elections? Are we going to see their faces until the next elections? Listen, sister, for example, take the Republican Party. They are not polluting the city; they install huge campaign advertisement posters or tape their posters on market glass windows. After the elections, they will clean everything up and the walls will be clean again. That is one of the reasons why I am going to vote for the Republican Party and not only that. We truly respected Andranik Margaryan. Did you see what was going on during the funeral? The people appreciated what he did. Now Serge Sargsyan is at the top of government. The man knows everything and doesn’t just talk. Perhaps he is forbidding polluting the city. I just don’t understand why the so-called mayor and police don’t prohibit the people from sticking the pictures on the walls.”
“We’ll play a trick on ourselves by voting for the needy”
Driver Karen lived in Russia since 2000 and returned to Armenia last year.
“They blame people for escaping from Armenia. It is extremely difficult to live here. Honestly. You only live one life and you want to live it to the fullest. I used to work a lot in Russia too. I used to work day and night, but I felt good and provided my family. I used to drive a “Gazel”, come home tired, fill the tub with hot water and relax in the water for 5-10 minutes, drink a glass of beer and I was no longer tired. That tub relaxed me, but here there are no conditions for a person to feel good. Why are they selling us the natural water that comes from our mountains? They charge 25 drams for the electricity from the atomic plant and give it to the Georgians for 15 drams. Do you understand? The Armenian does not feel good in his country, especially when you leave the country and see what the government does for its citizens in other countries. Russia does everything so that the Russian feels like he owns the country. Even foreigners feel good there, but in Armenia you feel pressured. You struggle for everything-air, water, electricity…” says Karen, who purchased a car and started working as a taxi driver upon returning from Russia.
“I will go to the elections, but I will vote for new people who have not been in power, because those in power had the levers that they could have used to improve the situation we are in. I may vote for “Prosperous Armenia” because I have the same mentality as they do. Gagik Tsarukyan is rich and if he comes to power, he won’t steal. I don’t know, I think that by electing a needy person, we will have played a trick on ourselves because after getting elected, all that person will do is make himself and his relatives rich. I think that we have to elect new people. I know the people who have already been in power very well,” says Karen and complains that people are not given the chance to get familiar with the oppositional politicians.
“True, I have only been here for a year, but to tell you the truth, I don’t know who represents the opposition. I know that Karen Demirchyan’s son is also competing, but I don’t know the rest. I remember the union of Vazgen Sargsyan and Karen Demirchyan, when we all had faith. I have also participated in those meetings and highly respected them, especially Vazgen. Now when I look at the National Assembly sessions, I am amazed to see the people who were there during the terrorist attacks, sitting in their seats as if nothing has happened.”
Who believes in his fairy tales?
According to driver Nerses, the candidates getting ready for the parliamentary elections think that the average person is so illiterate that you can deceive him.
“For example, now everyone is saying that we have included this point in our pre-election platform, that we are going to do this or that after getting elected…the other day I heard the interview with the leader of the “Country of Law” political party Arthur Baghdasaryan, who was attacking the host. He was pointing his finger and stating his proposals for birth rate increases or what needs to be done to make bank interest rates suitable. Are people that stupid to believe in those fairy tales? He was chairman of the National Assembly. Did he increase birth rates back then? My daughter-in-law gave birth during those years. There were so many people who were asking for money in the hospital that I am still paying back debts. If he wanted to increase birth rates, as National Assembly chairman he should have punished the extortionists of the Health Ministry. Nowadays women work for three years, save up some money, get pregnant, give birth and then wait another three years to save some money to have the second child. How about when they fool people like us-why don’t they ask why their supporters left? After all, people were left with unanswered questions, and you won’t go ahead and elect somebody who is a mystery to you. When they state nice things during their campaign advertisements, they should say how they are going to make all that possible,” says Nerses, and adds in closing: “Let everybody know that we are not fools and they have not deceived us. There are many questions and we are waiting for the answers. If we don’t get the answers, we won’t give them power. No matter how much they say that the people have been deprived of their power. It will not work out. The power is of the people and the people will elect the one who deserves to be elected.”
“Our president is a good one”
Driver Seyran says that he still doesn’t know which candidates are nominated in his precinct.
“I will find out who the candidates are and think about whom to elect. I have always participated in the elections and have stood up for my vote. I don’t have respect for those people who don’t go to the elections and then cry about it. Today there are many people who are sitting at home and waiting for something to happen, but on Election Day they are too lazy to walk to the precinct and vote. You hear complaints about the government and cursing everywhere you go. Somebody should ask them: as a citizen, what are you doing? You just have to make the trip to the precinct once every four years, but you are too lazy to get up from your seat,” says Seyran, and advises to look at everything carefully without expressing sorrow.
“The people should be telling the truth now. Today there are jobs, bread, and you can earn a living. Life has gotten better and the lazy person who doesn’t like to work will always blame the authorities to justify his laziness. I really respect Robert Kocharyan and I will choose him if he runs for president again. People think that everything will be perfect after electing somebody. He is doing a good job, he is improving the country, it’s just that Armenians have turned into a nation of moaners and groaners after the dark and cold years.”
“Go to hell, you devil”
Driver Levon is amazed when the rich, or the candidates participating in the elections, talk about a legal state from the podiums.
“The other day they put up Tsarukyan’s campaign advertisement and the line of the booklet that reads “legal state”. Go to hell, you devil. They should take a look at themselves before creating a legal state. Each one of them walks around with 6 bodyguards. If you happen to pass by them by mistake, they will beat you and make sure nobody finds your dead body. Tsarukyan must first of all educate his bodyguards and make them understand that their job is to protect Tsarukyan and not beat the people near to Tsarukyan before he can create a legal state. I have a friend in Arinj and when he was telling me about that, I got the impression that they were living in a colony. True, he helps everyone, he stands up for them, but he keeps them in fear. Let’s see what happens if somebody doesn’t vote for him…” says Levon and declares that the candidates who plan on creating a legal state must clean themselves. “They also violate the law, commit crimes and infringe upon rights. People like me don’t violate the law because that means going to jail for us. Let them punish themselves, get educated; that is when we will become a country of law and rights.”