Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Jan 4 2007
Armenia: Potato Democracy
Politicians’ charitable activities – which include handing out
potatoes – are dismissed by some as attempts to win over voters.
By Marianna Grigorian and Gayane Abrahamian in Yerevan
Armenia is due to hold parliamentary elections this spring and
political parties have already begun a series of public relations
activities that they describe as `charity’ but their opponents say
amounts to buying votes.
The committee of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly
monitoring Armenia’s compliance with council standards has drafted a
resolution, to be put to the assembly in January, warning the
Armenian government that it will be paying close attention to the
coming poll.
The proposed resolution says that the assembly is `disappointed that,
since Armenia’s accession to the Council of Europe in 2001, not a
single election held there has been deemed fully free and fair’.
`It is essential that the next ballot should at last comply with
European standards for free and fair elections, as proof of Armenia’s
progress along the road to democracy and European integration,’
continues the text.
In Armenia itself, however, accusations of malpractice are already
beginning, several months ahead of polling day. In past elections
candidates were accused of buying votes by distributing sugar, flour
or money to voters, but this time a much more sophisticated campaign
is taking place.
In October, the Bargavach Hayastan (Flourishing Armenia) party led by
Gagik Tsarukian, a member of parliament and one of the richest and
most powerful men in Armenia, announced it was launching a programme
for developing villages.
On the grounds that drought had prevented peasants from storing
seeds, Tsarukian’s party began distributing winter wheat and potatoes
in ten regions of Armenia. Bargavach Hayastan also launched a
programme of providing free medical services for the residents of
these regions.
Pensioner Marusya Karapetian who lives in Aparan 60 kilometres
northwest of Yerevan is delighted.
"Neither my husband nor I have seen a doctor for 15 years,’ she said
excitedly. `We were dying of pain but we did not have enough money to
visit a doctor. Tsarukian is a good man. He is treating us medically
and he is giving out potatoes so at least we have something to
plant."
Tsarukisan’s political opponents are already attacking his
initiatives. Member of parliament Shavarsh Kocharian charged, "Hungry
people will swear by the name of the person who helps them. Of
course, they will vote for the man who helps them. Everything has
been very well thought out.’
Tsarukian responded in an interview on public television, "They are
just condemning a person who is getting things done. You need to
work, to present your programme to voters, learn their opinion and
only then can you start counting how many votes you’ll get."
His other initiatives have included sowing wheat and the setting up
of a fund for impoverished students. And all his charitable
activities are getting generous television coverage
Other political leaders have been employing their own television
channels to whip up support.
Tigran Karapetian, chairman of ALM holding company and chairman of
the People’s Party, has been using ALM television for four years to
promote his own charitable initiatives. The slogan "Be good to people
at all cost’ sounds out from television screens with an image of
Karapetian and soulful music. The channel declares that his
activities are private and not political.
In a programme entitled Music Box and funded by Karapetian, children
from villages are given the opportunity to perform on television,
irrespective of their singing or reading abilities.
Karapetian has also been organising trips for provincial residents,
mainly pensioners and the poor, in minibuses to visit Lake Sevan and
other sights. All the excursions are scrupulously covered by the
television station, which presents Karapetian as a "saviour with a
big heart and a kind person".
"As a private person, I have given 3,000 dentures to pensioners and
spectacles for those with poor eyesight," declared Karapetian.
Stepan Zakarian, a member of the Justice faction in parliament,
roundly condemns Karapetian’s activities.
"Tigran Karapetian has transformed the whole election process into a
farce,’ he said.
Zakarian has also criticised defence minister – and possible future
president – Serzh Sarkisian for his involvement in opening a water
supply system in the village of Tsakhkahovit last November instead of
dealing with his defence portfolio.
`Instead of thinking day and night about how to increase our
country’s military budget, the defence minister opened this water
system. In the meantime, Azerbaijan’s military budget is ten times as
large as ours,’ he said.
The governing Republican Party of Armenia has also been engaged in
controversial charitable initiatives, presenting provincial
educational centres with computers and laboratory equipment.
But the party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov denies it has anything to
do with the election campaign.
"This programme is just aimed at improving the quality of education.
We started it in 2006," he said.
It is hard to distinguish between genuine charity and political
exploitation of voters. Armenian political figures have begun their
charitable efforts six months before campaigning is allowed
officially, enabling them to present it as not being connected to the
coming poll.
Samvel Nikoyan, a leading member of the Republican Party, said that
he disapproves of the charitable initiatives, in particular the
distribution of potatoes and wheat, but there is no way of legally
preventing it.
"I am afraid that a political and ideological contest will become one
for the distribution of seeds," he said.
Armen Rustamian, a leading member of the Dashnaktsutiun party, said,
"If people get potatoes and go to the elections with them, these
people will have a potato government and a potato democracy."
Marianna Grigorian and Gayane Abrahamian are reporters for
Armenianow.com in Yerevan.