In a clear sign that democracy is alive and well in Armenia, Yerevan’s Mayor Yervand Zakarian has told teachers to vote for the government’s amendments to the constitutional scheduled to be put to a referendum on 27 November. According to RFE/RL, this represents the continued use of public sector employees in elections, and in pushing for the amendments to be passed.

The mayor spoke at the end of a meeting that featured a 30-minute presentation by Kocharian’s chief constitutional lawyer of the essence of the Western backed reform. Armen Harutiunian speech was supposed to be followed by a question-answer session. But none of the participants volunteered to start the discussion. The embarrassing silence was ended by Zakharian who put two general questions to the Harutiunian.

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Armenian law places no such obligations on Harutiunian or any other civil servant. Furthermore, it bans public sector employees from becoming directly involved in election campaigns. Nevertheless, they have always been under pressure to help the ruling regime win elections.

The head of the Yerevan municipality’s Education Department, Onik Vatian, admitted on Monday that not only are the school staffs expected to vote for the amendments but to also urge the parents of their students to do the same. The principals are appointed and can be sacked by the department. They in turn have substantial leverage against the schoolteachers.

That many state officials are already involved in the pre-referendum proceedings is evident. For example, the “Yes” campaign in the northern Shirak province is run by Hovsep Simonian, head of the finance department at the regional administration. Simonian told RFE/RL that most of the local pro-amendment activists are schoolteachers and doctors.

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Also campaigning for those amendments is Armenia’s influential Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and his loyalists. Their Nig-Aparan organization has sponsored the production of the official anthem of the “Yes” campaign. The song, which tells voters that “Yes is the morning of my homeland; yes is our unselfish hopes,” has already been recorded and will be aired by Armenia’s government-controlled TV channels in the coming weeks.

On a brighter note, it’s been encouraging to see that some young, educated Armenians are actually reading the amendments, although most still remain unsure as to whether they will vote for or against them. It will be also interesting to see whether government attempts to monopolize propaganda through the television media, and on billboards throughout Yerevan, backfires.