Mechanics of electoral “kickback”

31/03/2012

Yesterday nothing extraordinary was reported in the Armenian political field. The opposition didn’t organize any protest march or picket. There was no statement of cooperation in regards to conducting “free, fair and transparent” elections. Thus, nowadays we may predict that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be held in comparatively calm atmosphere and without any shakings. In general, everybody will be satisfied with the results, except the most important part of the elections: the voter. Two days ago the Police published the electoral registers which enroll 2mln 485 thousand 544 voters. The number of voters increased for 166.000 in comparison to the last presidential elections. No logic can explain this kind of increase. It is obvious that the authorities have registered additional voters. Perhaps they will be able to prove it in various registers, by implementing this or that activity in regards to the voters’ lists. Both the registers and the lists belong to them… However the much the authorities’ attitude is predictable the more it becomes strange why the opposition remains silent and indifferent in regards to the most important issue of the elections. We may only suppose that the opposition has accepted the rules of the game and will participate in the elections in the framework of the maps “figured out” by the authorities. It is obvious that the additional 166.000 votes (depending on the index of participation in the elections) make 10-15% of reserve for the authorities. The ruling RPA will get as many votes as needed to ensure the majority in the National Assembly. The amount of the votes received by the other political parties depends on how much loyal the authorities will be to them. Thus, all the participants of the elections will compete not only for receiving the votes but also for taking own “share” from the above-mentioned 10-15%. On May 7 the authorities will publish the results of the “tender”.