Judging from the streets and TV our parties have spent quite some time on seriously preparing for the elections by preparing slogans, posters filming TV ads and most importantly writing (or having written down) party platforms.
However, regardless of how surprising it might be, during the election processes the key plans are being ignored. No, of course, the political parties with pathos announce that if they win the economy will grow by certain percent, poverty will reduce by certain percent, etc. But this is not the presentation of plans and projects but mostly results. And if there is no explanation behind that it becomes untrustworthy and implausible. It is necessary to have a deeper insight on the matter, which is not quite perceptible during this campaign. For example, when they are saying that the investment will be doubled during the coming years or that the economic shadow will decrease nobody says that it’s impossible. There are many questions, the answers of which would mean a lot to the voters. These questions are not asked. And therefore the answers are missing too. For example, if the party is saying that it’s going to cut the taxes or double or triple the pensions and benefits then the people should have the opportunity to ask how because the tax breaks and cuts will reduce the inflows of the state budget. In such cases, they are saying that they’ll cut the shadow. The actual cut of shadow means a strict tax administration. But on the other they are saying they’ll establish a favorable business environment. Or they are speaking about full market competition but also say that by amending the tax legislation they will create advantages for exporters. Such a behavior, no matter how favorable it would be for our exporters, contradicts the idea of free market. So are you a supporter of a free market or nepotism? One of the parties is speaking about the support of small and medium businesses but has oligarchs on its list or they are nominated in single-mandate districts. And this goes on and on. And the most noticeable promises are the creation of new jobs. The political parties think that they have found the weak link of voters and can gain credit on that. The parties have started a real race one by one by promising to open 150,000 workplaces next year or 200,000 jobs, etc. If you remember Robert Kocharyan had promised to open 40,000 jobs. You probably remember that later Kocharyan’s team was trying to prove that the promise had been fulfilled. It’s hard to tell how many people they succeeded in persuading. Instead, we can say that the Armenian people are already used to such promises and the possibilities of fulfillment. Let’s mention that the political parties running in the race (especially the opposition parties or the ones that act like opposition) are in a better shape. There is almost no doubt that no one will ever be suspicious about their promises. In this regard, it should be mentioned that the ruling parties, especially the RPA, are more cautious in their promises, because they are sure that they will have to fulfill those promises after all (or at least to convince they have already fulfilled). The thing is not only about the economy; it starts from the education and lasts up to the foreign policy. It would be more preferable, however, if all answers to those questions were given through the public debates. The debates should be civilized, normal and professional. As we see such a phenomenon does not even exist nowadays. Besides, the political parties do not express any initiative about conducting a debate. Each of the political parties considers its platform as a supreme truth, and does not want to get down from its heights or is simply lazy to examine some of its principles during the debate. They refer to their history, background, staff and patriotism by calling the voter to believe in them: to believe firmly. Each of them prefers to communicate with the voters. Each of the parties is trying to convince the voters that the most important thing for them is the ordinary voter. But nobody believes in them, as even those parties who convince, they don’t believe in their words themselves. By the way, some political parties somewhat complain that the society does not care about their platform and nobody reads those platforms, thus nobody will be interested in their debates where the parties will introduce their pre-electoral platforms. People will be more interested in disputes, especially when there are a few insulting phrases and grievance. However, the fact of having such an opinion about the voter is already insulting. In any case, if today the society is more interested in intrigues, and the platforms do not play a significant rote, it is not clear at all, why we have taken efforts and have written your pre-electoral platforms, when even your party members are not going to read them. And we were thinking that the political parties claiming on the power should themselves involve the society into the healthy and civilized electoral process. However, as always, we come to see that the political parties become the bearers of the current situation. The best way to describe the current situation is to make a rating table about the most emphasized names of the campaign participants by the press, and we will see the names of all-famous oligarchs in the top ten. It should be mentioned that they will appear there neither in political, nor platform context, but in a limited neighborhood level. It is impossible to find any ideological contradiction even through microscope. The biggest absurd here is that many people are still speaking that the upcoming elections are going to unprecedented, will record a few steps forward, etc. If we could believe in miracles for a moment, and assume that the elections will pass without fraud, yet those elections are not going to be better from the previous ones judging already from the campaigns. There are still the same rules of the games, same suggestions, same faces and the same intrigue. And there are still the same voters who are supposed to be the most decisive force in the entire electoral process; however they have willingly surrendered and are trying to predict the possible percentage of the political parties contesting beyond the stage.