METN’S ARMENIANS WILL VOTE EVEN AFTER THEY SECURED PAKRADOUNIAN’S VICTORY
Al-Tayyar
April 10 2009
Lebanon
Tashnak to resist relaxation and set to vote in the ballots as a
"display of force".
Imad Marmal-
It might come to many that the Metn election battle ended early for
the Tashnak party, with the victory of its candidate for the Armenian
seat "Hagop Pakradounian" now finding itself with an absence of a
competition. However, those who know what is happening behind the
scenes of the party know that this is not the case, because what is
left of the battle is incentive enoughand stimulates the Tashnak to
keep a large amount of "electoral appetite".
The March 14 forces have avoided the nomination of an Armenian
candidate in the face Pakradounian in the Metn, for several
considerations relating to the requirements of their alliance with
MP Michel Murr; however, the Tashnak leadership builds its accounts
on another type of data that make them certain of their ability to
achieve a numerical surprise at the ballot box, contrary to their
opponents expectations and their allies fears.
The leadership of Tashnak consider the elections in the constituencies
where the party has a presence, as districts with multiples objectives,
some are related to the broad heading that are a subject of political
controversy in the country, including those linked to internal
considerations associated with the balance of power in the Armenian
Street. Thus according to such coordinates, the Tashnak party’s first
issue becomes not only to ensure the victory of the party’s candidates,
but to ensure the largest possible number of votes that would allow the
victory to become more eloquent in the expression of the Armenian role.
In this context, it can be said that the resolution of the seat for
the Armenian Pakradounian by acclamation does not end the Metn battle
for the Tashnak, but it might have only changed its concept, which
means it has turned it from being elections to becoming a referendum
on the party’s policies and in two directions:
– The first one is the overall political direction, as the Tashnak
wants, by ensuring the intensity of votes in the ballots, to express
its harmony with the opposition’s line and to assure its alliance
with the Free Patriotic Movement and MP Elie Skaff, on the basis of
a common political project, and therefore they felt that his role is
not limited to securing the seat to its candidate, but also to support
the entire list as being an integral part of an undividable entitity
"for better and for worse".
– The second direction falls in the intent of demonstrating their
powers and the reality of the popular weight of the Tashnak party
in the face of what its opponents are saying, whether in or outside
the Armenian Street, about the decline in the party’s popularity. The
party, in this context, is keen to prove that it is still the dominant
player that cannot be ignored or reduced, contrary to the case of
the other two parties, Ramgavar and hanchak that are accused of being
melted in the pot of the Futures Movement.
– Most probably, there might be another potential incentive for
the Tashnak’s voters,to vote profusely on the ballot in the Metn,
although Pakradounian has already booked his seat in the parliament,
which is the "old account" with the Phalange Party, against the harsh
position that had been taken by Former President Amin Gemayel against
the Armenians after the 2007 parliamentary elections in Metn, where
many people will find a favorable opportunity to respond to it with
"a retroactive effect", through the ballot box.
Furthermore, we can see the Tashnak party is keen to prepare all
their voters in different ways to participate, intensely, in voting
in the forthcoming elections. Firstly to ensure sending the message
of all of the above mentioned reasons, and secondly to ensure even
better numbers then the ones they achieved in the 2005 elections,
when approximately 8600 Armenians had voted for their candidate and
his allies candidates. Therefore, the Tashnak electoral machine is
working intensively and in various districts to ensure that their
voters are ready in Metn equally with the rest of the other regions,
proving that the body of their electoral machine is one, and will
work full blast in all regions.
Finally, there remains the Tashnak’s biggest ambition to revive the
"good old days" by having their own bloc, based on the following
parameters:
– Support the Presidency of the Republic, because of what it
represented as the symbol of the state and its legitimacy.
– Insistence on the principle of consensus and partnership in
exercising power and support the formation of a government of
national unity.
– Building the relationship with Syria on the bases of mutual respect
and good-neighborliness.
– Address the economic and financial situation with solutions to the
bad situation that has been governing Lebanon since 1992.
– Discuss the fate of the resistance weapons calmly, on the table of
dialogue, and the defensive strategy, even if this dialogue may take
years, even though the Tashnak party resulted primarily by resisting
the Ottoman army in Armenia, for the occasion, the Arabic translation
of his name is:{ " Alitihad al thoury "Â"URNGÂ".}