Why do large businessmen of Armenia enter the political field and is that an acceptable phenomenon? Each of the participants of the subsequent “Pressing” club debate had his own clear position on that.
Vice-editor in chief of “168 Hours” newspaper Armen Baghdasaryan is of the opinion that in Armenia, business does not have an impact on politics; rather it directly enters the political field. In other words, large businessmen themselves create political parties and enter parliament. Baghdasaryan drew his attention to another fact.
“Whereas classically, business finances political parties, it does not exist in Armenia. Businessmen fear supporting oppositional political parties. Even the store manager is afraid of posting a campaign poster of the oppositional party.”
According to president of the Armenian National Movement administration Ararat Zurabyan, nobody in Armenia, particularly businessmen, is secure.
“So, the businessman tries to enter parliament in order to get additional security. The most serious form of capital that businessmen around the world can personally own upon their discretion is time. No businessman is forced to get involved in legislative activities because political activists do that much better than them. However, this field has been disfigured in Armenia since 1998 and it has all been done so that people can try to be represented (in this case parliament) by feeling secure. In Armenia, parliament is becoming less and less political. This is the manifestation of the policy of our current authorities,” said Zurabyan. As far as the fact that businessmen don’t finance the oppositionists because of their fear of the authorities is concerned, according to the Armenian National Movement political activist, “they are not afraid, rather they are terrified.”
National Assembly deputy and founder of “Sil” Concern Khachatur Sukiasyan differed in opinion. He believes that in any case, businessmen can be a part of, finance, and participate in politics.
“I don’t think that it is a long road from economics to politics if the given businessman has levers, is literate, has an image, experience and is accepted by society. We shouldn’t separate the businessman from the intellectual, the athlete from the politician. I want to understand: what is the profession of a politician that excludes the businessman who has manifested himself capable and has given competitive results?” asked Sukiasyan. He took a backward glance at the years of the USSR.
“When they were taking bribes during the years of socialism, not doing anything, entering a political party and doing nothing, was their entrance in the political field considered normal? However, for some reason, the entrance of the businessman who has supported the development of the country in the political field is debatable. We can debate anyone’s entrance in politics-doctors, lawyers, etc.” said the National Assembly deputy.
Another businessman and National Assembly deputy Harutyun Pambukyan shared that opinion. According to Pambukyan, the presence of businessmen in parliament benefits the economic development of the country.
If somebody is a political activist and the other is a businessman, it does not mean that the former is smarter than the latter. The two cannot be compared, especially in the case when the given businessman has been able to make his contribution in practice. After all, we all say that the National Assembly needs economists, lawyers and other professionals. The majority of the businessmen are economists. In other words, we certainly need them,” says Pambukyan.
“Of course, each person himself must decide what to do. It is clear that you can’t determine a person’s intellectuality by him being a businessman or a politician. There are other standards for measuring,” noted Armenian National Movement administration vice-president Khachatur Kokobelyan. However, according to him, there is another serious issue-the necessary and satisfying conditions for the creation of an oligarchic situation.
“It is clear that today, large businessmen of Armenia are compelled to be in parliament. I think that we have to discuss what kind of civil society and state structures we need to have so that the businessman won’t be forced to do something that he does not do with pleasure. If somebody is a businessman, then I think that the most pleasurable job for him is business. I think that Armenians confuse the oligarch with the business manager. It is evident that today even the exclusive business managers that have reached great heights and are known to the people for their good reputation and their created system of values are actually forced to get involved in politics and are currently in parliament,” said Kokobelyan.
The political activist from the Armenian National Movement finds that the person involved in politics in the civilized world, the business manager, and the criminal are separated, while it is hard to separate them in the National Assembly of Armenia.
Kh. Sukiasyan noted that political party registration is a very cheap process in Armenia and anyone can easily enter the political field.
“Are the political parties that appear in the political field better than the businessmen? Why do you consider the businessman competitive and anyone else who can get registered as a political party at any given time as uncompetitive?” said the non-partisan deputy.
According to A. Zurabyan, the people who have more than the average amount of opportunities than the society have specific influence in the National Assembly.
“In other words, the authorities encourage the people who have levers of pressure to enter parliament. How should they pressure, for example, Arshak Sadoyan? Five years ago, when Gagik Tsarukyan was elected deputy, he gave an interview and clearly said that he had entered parliament but thought that he belonged somewhere else, that he should be doing business. Five years later he changed his mind, founded a political party which clearly has advantages in some issues, with the support of the government,” A. Zurabyan said, substantiating his opinion.
“The right of anyone to get involved in politics is non-debatable. We have to place the issue at another level, and ask if the parallel growth of economy and politics is dangerous for the natural public development,” noted leader of the “Armenian Christian-Democrat Union” Khosrov Harutyunyan. According to him, there is an entire class of people who have concrete economic opportunities that can make serious and responsible decisions in the field of economy. Then you have political power whose whole meaning is to secure the natural development of the public through the means of making political decisions.
“Isn’t there a danger? If our institutes of civil supervision in the state administration system were so developed that we would be assured that any businessmen in political power would not try to use that power for his interests, then we wouldn’t have that danger. Yes, when the majority of large businessmen are in parliament, it is a guarantee for their businesses. At the same time, it is an opportunity to use that power to reach their goals,” said Harutyunyan.
“The opposite can also be said. We can say that the political activist, especially when he finds himself in the executive branch of government, may go after his own interests,” noted Khosrov Harutyunyan’s main competitor in the 10th precinct for the parliamentary elections, Khachatur Sukiasyan.
“I agree with you that any political activist may use the political power for his personal interests. I don’t deny that. However, the representatives of large business who have many things to lose are more interested in using that power for their interests. The problem concerns the formation of counterinfluences. I believe that there exists that danger and in all cases, in equal conditions, the preference should be made to professional political activists,” said Harutyunyan.
This debate between the two competitors could have gone on for a long time if Armen Baghdasaryan did not try to lead the discussion towards the Armenian Republican Party (ARP).
“We have invited representatives of six political parties participating in the elections and each political party has a good business development plan stated in its platform. But I think that businessmen will only support one of the parties and that is the Armenian Republican Party,” said the vice-editor of “168 Hours”.
“I am officially announcing that I am going to support two forces. I want a counterinfluence to be created in our country, so both the opposition and the government, that have been able to carry the burden of the nation’s issues on its shoulders, get votes. If there are seven pro-government political parties, I want each one of them to pass, whichever party has manifested itself in any way. I would like for the oppositionists to at least have experience. What do you think, Mr. Pambukyan?” said Kh. Sukiasyan.
“I am partisan, Mr. Sukiasyan,” replied Pambukyan to Sukiasyan and “closed” the subject.
According to Zurabyan, no party has done more for business development than the Armenian National Movement. For example, the Armenian National Movement has privatized land.
“But that does not serve as a basis for certain businessmen to say ‘this is the party that brought liberation into the light, formed business, and we will vote for that party’. No, the government is currently pressuring businessmen. The danger is that the authorities can tell the businessmen what to do,” said the Armenian National Movement administration president. Pambukyan replied by reminding Zurabyan that it was like that during the time of the previous authorities.
Leader of “New Times” Aram Karapetyan practically shared Zurabyan’s opinion. What is Gagik Tsarukyan’s “Prosperous Armenia” party? A prominent businessman has founded a political party and many people with nicknames are running for positions in parliament. “When there is need, they have contact details and call them to come and vote,” he said. Concerning Khachatur Sukiasyan’s note that the deputies that are also businessmen are very important since they support the adoption of rules that are in the interest of the business in the country, A. Karapetyan said, “Mr. Sukiasyan, do all the businessmen develop good bills in the parliament like you do?” “Do all the politicians develop bills? Don’t concentrate on the business representatives only,” noted Sukiasyan.
“I don’t think that the people that are here want to become MP only for their own interests. The business representatives that are here can protect their rights without the MP’s mandate too. Furthermore, according to the law, when someone is elected he/she should leave the business activities. Is there anyone that has done that so far? No, they don’t do that since they understand that their main field of activity is the business” said A. Karapetyan.
Also the head of “The Christian-democratic revival” party (CDR), Sos Gimishyan agreed with the view that politics should be carried out by politicians. “Politics is a separate science too. It is better when each one is a good specialist of the field involved. It is due to the existing environment in Armenia that people are leaving their own specialization and are doing other jobs. This is what life makes them do. We should be grateful to those businessmen that are developing good bills and have transparent policy standing in parallel with their business and protecting their own interests. This is very good,” said S. Gimishyan. He also spoke about the effectiveness of that process. “There are two kinds of approaches to elections: financial and political. In the first case, the chain is the following: money, human resources, a leader, and then at the end a program. The second model is to know what to do and find ways how to do it and with whose help. The first model needs much money, but is very effective,” said the CDR leader, not refuting the fact that “it is possible to solve any political problem with “good” money in Armenia”.
As for NA deputy Armen Ashotyan, he thinks that the involvement of businessmen in the parliament is a negative factor. “Personally, I respect the people that had money before governing more than the ones that made money only after they started to govern. Thus I think that the involvement of the business elite in politics is a normal process,” said Ashotyan. Speaking about the financial resources of the opposition, he used several specific economic terms. “If I had much money, I would not invest in the opposition “enterprise” since they can’t make a competent suggestion that would have a better result, thus this expense would not be justified. However, the opposition was attractive for investment in 2003. In this framework, it is absurd to claim the people with a business are thinking to invest money somewhere where their money will be lost,” said the ARP member.
Notwithstanding, the head of NPP, Shavarsh Kocharyan, thinks that businessmen cannot be good deputies or state servants. “Once businessmen are involved in those activities they should stop their business activities,” he said. The MP thinks that businessmen are seeking a political umbrella for the purpose of being protected. The latter does not agree with the vice versa either (when politicians are involved in business activities). “In this case the political scientist is becoming dependent economically and cannot act freely. Almost all of the police department heads or other state department heads have their own businesses. In this case the real businessmen suffer too. The key to the solution lies in developing a complete system reformation that would cut this connection off. The government should be transparent and controlled by the public,” says the NPP leader. In fact, he agrees with Kh. Harutyunyan and A. Zurabyan that if a politician is not involved in business activities he/she has nothing to lose and is more difficult to intimidate. “If I had much wealth and if I understood that I could lose it because of my activities, I might change and not do things that way,” confessed Shavarsh Kocharyan.
“Non-professional politicians are as much dangerous for the country as non-professional businessmen. There is one difference only: the mistakes of the latter are local and the society does not suffer, but the mistakes of politicians are not local and due to them the society may suffer much,” said Kh. Harutyunyan. Concerning the connection between business and politics, he said that the international legal practices did not put limits on the activities of artists and did not define what they had to do to be involved in politics, but the law puts limitations on that right of businessmen. “This is normal since the wish to use power for one’s own purposes is natural. Furthermore, in many countries businessmen don’t have the right to participate in discussions of issues where they have direct interests,” said the NPP leader. “In the world it is a normal thing when people have shares in stock companies. In developed countries everyone has shares in stock companies, included the doctors, politicians, etc. Let’s petition to apply this good model in Armenia too so that we can purchase shares in stock companies too. Let’s pay more attention to such issues and support the institutional candidates be elected in the parliament,” said Kh. Sukisyan about his international experience.
Deputy head of NPP, Alexander Butaev thinks that we should first of all solve institutional problems in the country and then discuss the details. He said that the topic of the discussion was one of such “details”. “It is clear that the governmental system does not work effectively, as there isn’t a clear distribution of power within the government. Furthermore, even the judicial, executive and legislative branches are not separated and independent. Everything is concentrated in one place. No one would ask such questions if only several businessmen were interested in being elected in the parliament but not all of them,” said Butaev.
“There are different reasons to be involved in politics. Some want to perform their possibilities, others want to suppress their aggression with the help of politics (according to a theory in psychology, people can suppress many characteristic traits with the help of politics), others want to be involved in politics to govern… I think there are many different reasons businessmen get involved in politics,” concluded psychologist Khachik Gasparyan, also noting that “everything cannot be explained in one theory.”