Several separate opposition parties have again come up with an announcement that the only way to struggle against the existing authorities is running with a joint candidate. As usual, after such announcements they say that they are not the only one to think so, that they have many followers, and they are just negotiating on tactical issues on how to do that. As we have seen, the opposition has always made such announcements.
The opposition made such announcements before the presidential elections too. Furthermore, when discussing those tactical issues, they thought it better for them to organize their meetings either in Yerevan or at a restaurant on the Ashtarak highway to seem mysterious. Accordingly, they discussed the issues of running during the parliamentary elections with a joint team and one list. However, the initiative of the activists failed (“Heritage” party leader Raffi Hovhannisian, NT leader Aram Karapetyan, ADU leader Vazgen Manukyan, “Republic” leader Aram Z. Sargsyan and PPA leader Stepan Demirchyan) since they were not able to reach agreement concerning the first position, as they thought that this would predetermine who the candidate for the upcoming presidential elections would be. This is the “tactical” part where the negotiations stopped and each of them made a decision to run separately.
By the way, before that there had been an attempt to unite too, which was initiated by Raffi Hovhannisian and Vazgen Manukyan, by founding the “Civic movement of Armenia”. They even organized a conference and, notwithstanding the expectations, did not criticize the authorities at all. They only spoke about the virus of indifference and the disintegration of the society. At that time, Manukyan assured that it was impossible to do anything with such a disintegrated society. Thus, he suggested making a contract with the citizens, where each of them would specify how he/she would like to see the country. “As the starting point, we should create a document together with the society about how we want to see our country. My suggestion is to create a civic contract, which will be signed by one, two or three million citizens, so that we can move forward, to struggle, being organized well and under one common flag. Our goal is uniting the society under the umbrella of several simple principles, which will create adequate conditions for each party to implement their programs,” said Manukyan. However, no contract has been made and executed with the disintegrated society so far as the mentioned suggestion, and the civic movement stopped existing right there. Now, the closer February approaches, the more announcements are made by the opposition powers. A couple of party leaders have already announced about their intention to run. Several other political powers have announced that they are going to run with one joint candidate. If this process continues, there will be not 2-3, but 5-6 candidates representing the opposition. Just following the parliamentary elections, Aram Karapetyan announced about his intention to run for president during the 2008 elections. Vazgen Manukyan and LS leader Arthur Baghdasaryan did so also. None of these three candidates has announced about giving up their intention to run and supporting one joint candidate for the purpose of beating the existing criminal regime. It is also clear that some opposition representatives will use the opportunity provided by this summer period to negotiate on running with one joint candidate (“Impeachment” bloc, “Republic”, APP and NU parties). Also, ADP, Arshak Sadoyan’s, and Shavarsh Kocharyan’s parties are negotiating on creating such a bloc. In a word, it is already clear that there won’t be one joint opposition candidate during the upcoming presidential elections of 2008, but there will be a minimum of 4-5 candidates. Aram Karapetyan, Raffi Hovhannisian (member of “Heritage” party, S.Safaryan, recently said that the latter could become the joint candidate of the opposition) and Arthur Baghdasaryan have not taken part in any negotiations on the topic of running with one joint candidate. If the negotiations carried out by the teams of Vazgen Manukyan and “Impeachment” bloc don’t fail, there will be two more candidates. In a word, we may already assume that there won’t be a joint candidate for the entire opposition.
Shavarsh Kocharyan thinks that there won’t be lack of candidates during the presidential elections, but he believes that quantity does not mean quality. “There will be many candidates. Quantity does not mean quality yet. The process of quality formation is not seen yet. The most important thing is quality; if there is no quality, it is not so important to have a joint candidate,” Kocharyan said during our conversation. Answering our question as to whether those who have announced their intention to run have no quality, Kocharyan said, “The problem is not that the people you say don’t deserve it, but the problem is that it is necessary to assess and analyze the previous mistakes in order not to repeat them in the future. Alas, there is no such tendency.” According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, even if the opposition has analyzed and realized that it is impossible to succeed without one joint candidate, it is not enough yet. “The problem lies deeper, and it can’t be estimated with arithmetic,” he said.
P.S. We have been told that Vazgen Manukyan might become the joint candidate of ARF-Heritage-Dashink parties. If this format succeeds, there will be one less opposition candidate.