WHY THE INSTITUTION OF DEBATES DOES NOT GET ESTABLISHED AMONG ARMENIANS

KarabakhOpen
07-02-2008 10:40:17

In the countries which all the other countries refer to as civilized
the outcome of elections are often determined by live TV debates. In
addition, debates are set down in the law.

The correlation of votes changes depending on how each will behave
during the debates. It is especially important in case of a run-off
election when the voters need to choose between two. However, the
debates are as important in the first round of the election, even if
the candidates are nine, like in Armenia.

For whatever reason, the institution of debates does not get
established among the Armenians. The most memorable debates were
between Robert Kocharyan and Stepan Demirchyan, during which many
voters made their choice.

After this debates were turned into cheap talk shows, stopping to
be instruments for influencing public opinion. Moreover, those who
participate in such debates run the risk of appearing unserious to
the voters.

It is obvious that debates should not be turned into talk shows,
depending on the wish of one candidate or another, but must be an
obligatory part of the election campaign when one candidate cannot
refuse to talk to the other live on TV. In addition, the refusal of the
candidate should be perceived as lack of respect for public opinion.

Why do the Armenians avoid live duels on TV? Perhaps it is due to
the public order in the country. Democracy supposes mechanisms of
influence of the public opinion on government policies. In addition,
one of the important events in which public opinion should be deciding
is elections. However, only in case they are fair. Meanwhile, there
is no way without falsifying in Armenia.

During elections all the participants rely on everything except the
opinion of voters. The government relies on the administrative
resource, one relies on support from the outside, others on
provocations. Hardly anyone believes that the elections will be fair,
and the voters will elect the most worthy candidate.

Therefore debates do not become established in Armenia, which are
the best lever of influence on public opinion. Therefore defeat is
perceived as personal insult rather than the result of fair choice.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress