It’s hard to believe the words of the deputy prosecutor general of Armenia Aram Tamazyan that the citizens, who would made evident violations on the election day will be subject to legal responsibility. Or it’s more accurate to say naive. First of all, in our fatherland not only almost all the men and women are involved in committing violations but also all the officials and even the last residents of rural communities. They are willing to directly or indirectly participate in the process of violations without any hesitance. As of the initiative of the prosecutor general’s office to reveal and punish the culprits the allegations of Mr. Tamazyan are softly said ridiculous. Those made us remember not only the National Unity party but also an electoral commission member, who after the last parliamentary elections knocked at the doors of law enforcers. He stated that he had made numerous violations and was really sorry about that (by the way the latter had an Aparan origin). The law enforcers have not isolated this person from the society, who had personally confessed in his fault. Instead they could have interrogated him and even found other violators. But that didn’t happen at all. The law enforcers and the society have laughed a lot on this commission member and even doubted his mental state. And later NA MP Lyova Khachatryan, who also has an Aparan descent, found a job for this unlucky commission member. And the story ended with this. However, the deputy prosecutor general gave a warning not only to the potential violators but also the journalists. He meant that the journalists must be more correct in their broadcasts and give conscientious information about the violators. Those are really golden words. It is just very difficult to make Mr. Tamazyan and other representatives of the management of the prosecutor’s office that we journalists would also prefer to give concise information about the culprits, such as names and concrete facts. But whose names? Let me speak from my own name. I as a journalist am having a hard time to mention the name of the kindergarten teacher, who asked me what party I was going to vote for (this was before the parliamentary elections). It turned out that the kindergarten teachers were made to provide passport information of 5 voters to the director, who support the RPA. I told the kindergarten that I am a journalist and advised her not to be too open to me about her activity. The poor woman blushed and asked me not to tell anyone about this. Now I am mentioning an example of violations but am not giving any correct names. This means that my information is unsubstantiated and groundless. The other example is that as a journalist I cannot be open to the readers and the prosecutor’s office as I cannot mention any concrete names either. Recently one of my nieces, who is young and works at school was invited to a meeting with other teachers to the principal’s office. There was only one issue in the agenda. This is how the principal formulated it, “It is hard to work in a state body. W are all obliged to vote for the RPA candidate.” Afterward, the principal distributed blanks to the teachers and made them within several days fill in passport information of 10 voters each. My niece, who was quite embarrassed, asked me not to tell anyone about this (“oh saint innocence,” Jordano Bruni would say). I cannot mention the name of my niece or the number of school, where she works, or the name of the school principal because of the human aspect. During their marz visits all the presidential candidates start and end their speeches with the petition of free and fair elections. The fact that free and fair elections are not profitable for anyone can be formulated the following way. In the event of free and fair elections all the candidates almost don’t have any chance to win in the first round. Unfair elections, regardless of who is going to win, are profitable for all the candidates. The ones, who can objectively collect little percentage of votes, let God allow them run every 5 years. Thus they will connect their failure with falsified elections. The one, who gets elected president based on falsified ballots because it is clear to all of us that none of the candidates in race enjoys the trust and sympathy of the voters. One of the best methods of maintaining votes, which has been applied in Armenia for a long time, is electoral bribery. Therefore, based on this, the upcoming elections will also deserve the same fate. No one has any grounds to be scared of the prosecutor general’s office. Even if you go to the doors of the prosecutor’s office with self-confession the most they can do is doubt your mental state. However, let’s be optimistic as Lyova Khachatryan is still an MP.
