– What do you think about this pre-election campaign?
– I think that the competition and campaign of political powers is very poor and sad. Before the campaign would start everyone thought that this campaign would be different also in consideration of new technologies, means of communication, but all expectations were failed. The worst thing is the fact that in order to attract votes parties are competing not with platforms, ideologies and visions, but the number of people that attend their demonstrations, which unfortunately is like counting heads for many of those political parties. Till now I have not seen any serious political debate, clash of ideologies, or any conflicts of ideas or viewpoints. The campaign is limited with election videos and showing videos concerning pre-election gatherings and demonstrations on TV only. The only difference is that besides newspapers and TV such materials are also posted in social networks. There is an interesting similarity in the campaign tactics adopted by the candidates nominated under majoritarian system. The competition between pro-government and opposition candidates in different precincts is being crystallized day by day. Opposition candidates are trying to organize effective campaign, and pro-government parties are giving money for votes. In almost all precincts the government is supporting and/or nominating people, who have other resources and possibilities to support their campaigns besides administrative resources and the support of the authorities. It is not by chance that they do not discriminate any methods. The most dangerous and worst thing that happened during the campaign period was the provocation against our colleague Nicol Pashinyan, who is a candidate in the 7th precinct. If the authorities at the high level do not criticize and take measures against such violence, it means their promises to organize fair elections are baseless. It is not about launching a fake criminal case but giving a real political estimation to such appearances, which was not done. In fact this means that the authorities are encouraging bringing the culture of political competition down to the level of provocations.
– How does the situation in the 4th precinct look like and what are your chances to be elected?
– I think I have a great opportunity to be elected, otherwise, as I have said, I would not run in the elections. It is another issue that in this precinct like in many other precincts, the competition is at a different level in terms of the campaign of at least one candidate. We knew about the fact that candidate Artak Sargsyan would be spending a lot of money before the campaign too, and even I related to it with humor and understanding as I believe that every candidate can be represented in the society with what he/she has. However, from the very first day of the campaign we also learnt that in addition to the money, the entire state system is working for him too. We could relate to it normally if only the traditional administrative resources worked for him (such as municipalities, directors of nursery schools, etc.). But now the highest state institutions are working for that purpose too, which is a very dangerous thing not only for a separate precinct or candidate like me. It turns out that that Artak Sargsyan’s ambitions of being elected member of parliament is not only his and his loyalists’ job, but also an issue of national security of the Republic of Armenia. It turns out that the president’s office is also working for him. For example, recently the president’s office HR director Vigen Sargsyan instructed a number of MPs and businessmen not to speak any negative critics concerning Artak Sargsyan. This means that the authorities are making people not only work for their candidates, but also not to speak anything wrong about them even among their friends. I am bringing this example to show what the quality of elections is going to be in our precinct, and how the state resources and officials are working for their candidates. In this case the problem is not whether I will be elected MP or not, but the fact that the president’s office is busy with such small issues. What I mean is that the institutions that are supposedly to be in charge of the foreign policy, security and national security are serving for private interests, for example it can be the interest of a small shop owner. The elections will come and go, but the country is being depreciated in the eyes of people with such small things as well.