Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Especially for Vestnik Kavkaza
On March 15 elections to local government bodies (LGB) were held in 26 communities of Armenia. According to the CEC, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) won in most communities, many of which put forward their nominees as acting heads of the administration. The only exceptions were the elders of villages representing the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and Dashnaktsutiun, who were also re-elected to their posts.
Previously, the same person was forbidden to run more than two times in local elections, but Robert Kocharyan lifted this limitation, which created the principle of the right to lifelong re-election.
A special feature of this election was the failure of opposition parties to participate in them. It is possible that a significant role here was played by the general situation in the opposition field. Thus, the PAP after recent events and against the background of the observed outflow of personnel, is going through a difficult transition period. Two other opposition parties - the Armenian National Congress' (ANC) and Legacy - do not have sufficient resources to participate in the contest. Some experts do not exclude the possibility that the parliamentary opposition of the "Three" (PAP, ANC and Legacy) already have ceased to exist. Meanwhile, political analyst Armen Badalyan believes that these estimates are premature. "As long as the members of the parties of the "Three" do not declare the termination of the existence of this format, saying that the "Three" is no longer impossible," Badalyan said.
The RPA attaches great importance to this election. "It always took, and takes, the most active part in local elections, because the whole essence of the socio-economic life of the country is based on the work of the communities. For a dialogue with the people you need to take an active part in local governments," the Speaker of the National Assembly, Vice-Chairman of the RPA Galust Sahakyan believes. Representatives of municipal and village administrations are working
with the authorities during the presidential and parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the Armenian opposition has traditionally paid much less attention to the local elections than the big elections, an exception in this regard may only be the elections in the cities. Formally, local elections are part of the fight against the current regime and its policies. However, in reality these elections in the vast majority of cases were not fair, because they were not fair and truly democratic presidential and parliamentary elections.
The opposition forces think that their top priority is conducting the normal big elections and only then the local elections, which the opposition cannot do because of the uncertainty that is prevailing in the opposition field. According to the director of the Caucasus Institute, Alexander Iskandaryan, the latest events around the PAP once again confirmed that the Republicans can win all the elections, all the political processes and will do it easily, because an opposition which can influence the political processes doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, with huge administrative, informational, financial and human resources, the authorities failed to win the local elections 2-3 years ago in Gyumri, Ijevan, Sisian and a number of other localities where PAP representatives fought against the candidates supported by the RPA. In addition, assistance in organizational matters to the PAP, which have greater financial resources, was provided by the ANC. When you combine the efforts of the opposition forces and the availability of funds, victory in the local elections is possible, but only in certain places.
In general, to fight in the local elections, however, as well as un the elections for the President and the National Assembly, the opposition's chances are limited due to the presence of unequal conditions in the first place, and the use of the administrative resources by the authorities. Unequal conditions are also predetermined in such an important matter as finances. Under these conditions, the authority in Armenia in nine cases out of ten blocks the financial sources of the opposition.
Local elections are only a piece of the picture established in the Armenia around the electoral processes, and as long as the situation in the big elections does not change, small changes cannot be expected.
