Recently the “European Movement” organization granted the title “European of the Year” to the deputy-chairman of RPA, NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan. It’s noteworthy to mention that last year this title was granted to Artur Baghdasaryan. We decided to speak to Torosyan not about his European image but about pre-election developments.
– Mr. Torosyan, recently when talking to journalists you said that you don’t predict any excesses after the elections. However after the last NA elections, the ARF in particular blamed the RPA of stealing their votes and of election bribery. Mutual accusations and offensive words were heard, such as “Prostitute”, “You are a prostitute”, etc. Don’t you think that after the coming elections such accusations will be made not only by ARF but also Prosperous Armenia?
– I don’t think so. During the coming elections a great number of monitors will be present and the announcements of non-partisan monitors are more important than the statements of parties. If the parties are making announcements they must have grounds for those. Otherwise, it’s an empty verbal statement. I hope during the last 4 years the parties have matured enough to make correct announcements based on facts.
– In this regard, perhaps Prosperous Armenia is the most active one, which is trying to protect its rights through the court.
– Concerning Prosperous Armenia and the local elections in Armavir, I’d like to mention that it was a very good example proving that normal elections can be held in Armenia regardless of who’s running. In this case, RPA and Prosperous Armenia were competing with their representatives. After the publication of election results, Prosperous Armenia thought that there were violations made during the elections, and decided to go to court. However, the trial found the Prosperous Armenia appeal groundless. They also recounted ballots from a number of precincts. It also proved that there were no serious violations and the minor inaccuracies couldn’t possibly affect the election results. Thus, Prosperous Armenia recalled its appeal. This proves that fair elections can be held in Armenia.
– Do you think the elections of district 39 of Vayots Dzor were another example of the argument that the main meeting place for Prosperous Armenia and RPA is the court?
– If you are trying to say that RPA and Prosperous Armenia are meeting in court more often than other parties you must also guess the reasons. The two parties have the greatest number of majoritarian candidates. This means that they couldn’t have met somewhere else.
– I was in the RPA office some time ago. Music was playing. Galust Sahakyan was pacing in the lobby and smoking; RPA deputies and candidates were drinking coffee in their rooms while Serge Sargsyan was continuing his tiresome work, having rallies in the villages. I don’t quite believe the statements that the roles are equally distributed. My impression is that it is Serge Sargsyan who is doing the main work.
– I think your words are not right, especially the word “tiresome”. It’s the campaign period, and every party has one clear objective – to plan the elections in a way so as to win as many votes as possible. This form of pre-election competition is our tactic, no matter if one likes it or not. I insist that these tactics will prove to have been efficient during the summing up of election results.
– RPA supports those single-mandate candidates who are not quite accepted by the society. In particular – Hrant Grigoryan, Sashik Sargsyan, Seyran Saroyan, etc.
– I think the Parliament is the mirror of the society. Concerning the candidates you mentioned, I’d like to say that they are elected by the majoritarian system. These deputies are elected by the society, and the society decides whom to send to the NA. Therefore, it’s necessary to make such announcements after the society decides whom they vote for.
– Among campaign methods the RPA, ARF and Prosperous Armenia prefer the social-economic approach – free healthcare, free education for the needy, etc. However to promise what they cannot do and didn’t do cannot be serious and credible.
– First I surely insist that RPA doesn’t give fake promises. Maybe you should ask this question to the parties, which claim that they are going to immediately eliminate corruption once they get elected or the parties, which have heir ministerial mandates claim that.
– Former coalition member Legal State and current member ARF don’t miss the chance to announce that the people are tired of the government.
– First they are saying that during those 4 years positive things also happened, but only due to them. But every clever person will notice the contradiction. If they didn’t have decisive votes to make decisions, how did they achieve positive things? Sometimes such attacks and criticism may turn out to be a boomerang for the criticizers.
– Do you follow the campaign on TV?
– Very rarely.
– What’s your opinion about the political ads of the parties? Which party ads do you like the most?
– I have a quite good opinion about our society and think our society doesn’t watch those ads very carefully. The debates among politicians are more interesting than the one or two-minute ads, during which parties are trying to squeeze in whatever they have. I don’t think anybody takes that seriously.
– In that case why did RPA not refuse that non-serious step?
– RPA has other methods. During that short ad it presents only one issue and I think refusing that opportunity would be unclear to voters.
– Which singer, among the ones who are involved in the RPA campaign, do you personally like?
– I think it’s up to them whom to support, so I think it’s not quite correct to speak about that.
– Do you really think so?
– Yes, I respect the choice of anybody, including singers.
– Are there any oppositionists, whom you like and with whmo you’d like to work with?
-During the short period of the PACE delegation we succeeded in creating an environment of tolerance and mutual respect. I think we have been productively working with the opposition during the past year as well. We have normal relations with non-parliamentary forces as well. However, let’s not forget that deputies are elected by the people. Therefore, it’s better to wait a little longer and see whom the people send to the Parliament.