Inch es anum, Ara?
Vazgen Manoukian, Opposition Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia
RFE/RL reports that opposition NDU leader Vazgen Manukian has warned that his party might well boycott the next parliamentary elections scheduled for 2007 if “Armenian politics continues to degenerate into infighting among various government factions.” The former Premier and Defense Minister stood against Armenia’s first President Levon Ter Petrosian in the 1996 presidential elections that failed to meet international standards and were widely considered to be falsified.
“If it is possible to introduce changes in Armenia which would ensure that political struggle makes sense, we will take part [in the 2007 elections], in a bloc or separately,” he said, referring to his National Democratic Union (AZhM). “If such changes do not take place, I will conclude that it is meaningless to contest those elections, regardless of our chances.”
Although Manukian would not say what specifically should change in the political arena, the comments clearly reflect his frustration with a perceived lack of progress in Armenia’s democratization and the opposition’s failure to effect regime change. This reality was highlighted by the AZhM’s and other major opposition groups’ inability to pull large crowds at their mostly recent rallies held in the wake of the November 27 constitutional referendum.
According to the news item, Manukian does not deny that opposition parties in Armenia are now increasingly marginalized and that the main players in the 2007 parliamentary elections will be Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia and other “pro-establishment” parties. However, as democracy generally means having some kind of effective opposition, perhaps a call to arms might have be more appropiate than threatening to throw in the towel so soon.
“[Tsarukian’s] party will compete with the likes of itself, it is not out to fight against the opposition,” he said. “The opposition has already been brushed aside. They will fight among themselves. There are many sharks among them.”
Still, as one Diasporan said to me in the aftermath of the 2003 presidential and parliamentary elections, perhaps Armenia has the [bad] government that it deserves. By the same reckoning, perhaps it also has the [bad] opposition it deserves as well. As Garo over at Notes from Hairenik continues to say, the vochinch syndrome continues.
Eh Vazgen….
most of the academia that rised to the power on the wake of Kharabakh movement proved to be worthless as polititians. Actors should leave the stage when there are no spectators anymore.
Comment by Գագիկ — February 1, 2006 @ 11:23 am
I’ll have to say that this is a very stupid thing for Vazken to come out and say. He needs to be a lot more proactive if he wants the political climate of Armenia to change, and most importantly persuade the people to bring about that change. Really, boycotting the elections is a cop out and is a useless position, and he should understand that. It does nothing to encourage democracy. Why anyone would want to announce the possibility of boycotting elections a year beforehand is beyond my comprehension–but then again we’re dealing with Armenians.
Great blog entry title, by the way.
Comment by Christian Garbis — February 1, 2006 @ 1:37 pm