Interview by Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The tendency of woman’s political role improvement is one the hallmarks of our time. The chairwoman of the opposition party Gnchak, MP from the Armenian National Congress Ludmila Sargsyan tells Vestnik Kavkaza about the role of a woman in the Armenian political life and the internal situation.
- The post-election processes in Armenia are accompanied by protests initiated by the former foreign minister, the leader of Heritage Raffi Ovannisyan. Can these protests turn into a wide socio-political movement?
- Refusal from participating in the presidential elections by three leading political forces has clear reasons. The forces – the ANC, Prosperous Armenia, and Dashnaktsutyun – understood acuteness of the geopolitical factor. The world political centers relied on Serge Sargsyan, i.e. his reelecting was beneficial for Russia and the West. The question is what direction Armenia will choose – the European Union or the Eurasian Union. Both centers are interested players. The other factor was the parliamentary elections on May 6th, 2012. They demonstrated that the mechanism of power changing by direct elections is ineffective in our country. In the context of doomed results of the presidential elections, participation of the opposition forces was senseless.
At the same time, the authorities had to provide competitiveness of the elections. They could find a solution for the task, using Ovannisyan. He would be right to reject participation in the elections. In this case we would get what we have in reality in Armenia – Serge Sargsyan was the only candidate and the elections would be considered non-competitive and illegal.
Participation of Ovannisyan who is a political figure unlike other candidates encouraged concentration of protest electorate’s votes in his favor. As there were no alternative opposition candidates, all votes against Sargsyan were given to Ovannisyan, but it doesn’t mean all these people are his supporters.
There is nothing unusual in the protests: Sargsyan won the elections de jure, while de facto he lost in many cities. His victory is doubtful and people express indignation, expecting changes in the situation. They hope for Ovannisyan. However, I see no grounds for appearance of a wide socio-political movement because Ovannisyan’s position is unclear. He doesn’t speak about certain steps for changing power. So, the number of people on the Freedom Square will reduce day after day.
- Are statements on necessity of new parliamentary elections argumentative?
- Till power belongs to the Republican Party of Armenia, the results of elections will be known ahead. Armenia needs new presidential elections. Under the other president we can expect that parliamentary elections will demonstrate people’s will rather than a next arrangement on the current authorities’ reelecting.
- What is the main problem of the Armenian opposition?
- Consolidation. We cannot provide a serious struggle against the authorities separately. We have ambitions and problems of leadership. But the key success factor is consolidation of all opposition forces.
- What skills compose a woman-politician’s image?
- In the beginning of my political career I haven’t thought about this – I choose tasks and tried to solve them. Then I realized that to be successful in politics (I think I am a successful politician among women) you should be honest to your environment and to people. This factor plays an important role in forming a really positive image. A woman-politician should be persistent, logical, adhering to principles, and what is the most important – never try to be like a man-politician as in this case a woman-politician becomes uninteresting. I am a leader of a party. I used to have many drawbacks which I managed to overcome in time. Politics is a tough sphere, if you want to see a friend in everyone, you will lose.
- In Armenia people continue to think politics is a man’s business. Who among your colleagues fill confident in this sphere?
- I don’t agree that it is a man’s business. Who said that problems of our country are interesting to men only? Women feel confident in politics as they are prominent political activists and could achieve success by fair means.
- Do family and politics suit well?
- A woman-politician is not free from household issues. We are mothers who are responsible to their children. Of course, politics takes a lot of time and sometimes you don’t fulfill your home responsibilities well. But I began to deal with politics seriously when my both daughters grew up. They are my supporters, aides, and allies.
