Legislative in Armenia: day of reflection after a stormy campaign
Audio 02:30
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian during his last meeting before the election, in Yerevan, June 17, 2021. via REUTERS - Vahram Baghdasaryan / Photolure
By: Anastasia Becchio
6 mins
Seven months after the defeat against Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, Armenians are called to the polls this Sunday for early parliamentary elections.
The campaign took place in a climate of tension, with an escalation of insults from the main candidates.
Publicity
From our special correspondent in Yerevan,
Friends sip a cold coffee on a patio. Groups of high school students in white shirts celebrate the end of class. It reigns like a party atmosphere in the streets of Yerevan. However, the war and its consequences are still in the minds. Society is divided, observes Hayk Martyrossian, who came from the United States to campaign for a pro-Western party. “
You should not judge by the presence of people in cafes, restaurants, etc. The atmosphere is in total depression, no hope…
”, he observes.
In the Armenian capital, photos of candidates are everywhere. And for good reason: 25 parties or alliances of parties take part in the election. “
There are too many for such a small country. Two parties would have been more than enough. It's a circus!
», Deplores Maria Drakhanian, teacher.
"Just Armenia", "Liberty", "Republic" or "5165 movement" in reference to the height of Mount Ararat, voters have a choice.
The organization Transparency International, which is deploying observers for this election, undertook a census of all these parties, but encountered obstacles, as Sona Ayvazyan, director of the Armenian branch of the organization, recounts: “
Several d 'between them don't have a Facebook page or website, or even a known public address for them to be visited.
These parties are not real parties, they are there to do sabotage.
Right now we have a lot of parties doing pro-Russian propaganda
”
A campaign polluted by manipulation and lies
Propaganda, but also manipulation and lies also flooded the countryside. Hundreds of fake accounts have been created on social media. This is what the fact-checking team of the NGO Union of informed citizens observed.
“
Most often, these accounts are linked to former presidents Robert Kotcharian and Serge Sarkissian. Their aim is to discredit democracy and the fight against corruption,
explains Daniel Iohannisyan, the director of the NGO
. They send the following message: for 30 years we had corruption, but we had Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2018, we started to fight against corruption and we lost Karabakh. It is not supported by any facts. It's worse than populism. But it is dangerous for Armenian society. It is dangerous when society thinks that it may have problems because of the fight against corruption or because of democracy
”.
Former President Robert Kocharian, whose figure remains associated with the corruption schemes of the former regime, is among the most serious competitors to the outgoing Prime Minister, Nikol Pachinian, who is declining in popularity.
During the campaign, Robert Kocharian said he planned to “
put in place strict controls
” on the work of organizations funded by foreign donors.
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