POPULISM OUSTED FROM THE POLITICAL ARENA

Lesson Learned from Elections

What new developments are possible to observe on the native political arena by taking a retrospective glance at the pre-electoral processes and summing up the post-electoral mosaic formed on the political arena, particularly in the new Parliament.
Our interlocutor is MP SPARTAK SEYRANYAN, member of the Supreme Body of ARF-Dashnaktustyun in Armenia.

“The results of the May 12 elections arouse interest not only because of the number of the votes obtained by each political faction and the parties entering the Parliament, or, vice versa, remained outside the National Assembly. Apart from purely ‘informative interest’, I think there is a need for serious political studies and conclusions, but perhaps time is required in order to make serious analyses.
Anyway, today it is already possible to discuss certain regularities, which seem to be on the surface, making no room for doubt. The first noteworthy development I would like to emphasize is that populism with its cheapest manifestations was actually ousted from the political arena. Such tendency was visible in the pre-election period as well, as shown convincingly by the election results, there is no demand for such unfavorable practice on the “political market”, and the political factions guided by populist slogans are not represented in the Parliament now.
Secondly, regardless whether or not they admit their defeat in psychological terms, the political factions that haven’t entered the Parliament seem to be politically aware that society no longer yields to their expressions of dissatisfactions. Of course, these elections were not devoid of breaches either, and what we have at present does not fully comply with the European standards we desire. This is admitted by everybody, both the winners and the losers.
The problem is on a different plane; all that happened no longer givers rise to stormy counteractions among the people not because society is indifferent, but because the election results express the ratio of powers correctly in qualitative terms. As much as quantity is concerned, perhaps the real picture is a little different from the point of view of the percentage of the votes obtained by the political factions, but regardless the flaws observed during the elections they are not far from reality.
“Does it mean you consider the opposition’s, particularly the parliamentary opposition’s crucial defeat normal?”
“Quite normal. After all, it is necessary to realize that politics is not restricted to campaign. During the campaign many political factions attempted to win the peoples’ trust by making use if some campaign tools. Life showed that people have become much more pragmatic and even if they do not have ‘sympathy’ for this or that political faction, they are more inclined to link their political future to those who have proven that they are able to solve certain problems and change something in their lives not in words but in deed. That’s to say, notions such as “good guy” or “bad guy” have been pushed to the background.
A significant part of the opposition turned out a loser, because, in my deepest conviction, they did not evaluate the situation correctly and were unaware of the real dispositions among the people. There were many, who thought that once they appeared on the square, used a little bit of bad language, shouted and yelled a little, the people would admire them and hurry to vote in their favor. People are sick and tired of all that, whereas the opposition remained privy to the people’s moods.
One of the reasons of the opposition’s failure was that they put themselves aside from the political processes. It is surprising though fact: while in all normal countries the opposition is the locomotive and the chief implementer of democratic reforms, including the use of revolutionary means, what happened in Armenia was the contrary.
The authority, on behalf of the coalition parties, became the standard-bearer of democratic reforms, while the opposition refused the country’s further democratization policy, by boycotting the process of Constitutional reforms, without realizing that it was boycotting itself – its political destiny and future in that way. And as a result of such boycott, it found itself in a marginal position on the political arena; the Opposition boycotted the Constitutional referendum, and the people in turn boycotted the Opposition.
I am sure the political faction that will draw conclusions in the aftermath of all this and proofread their tactics and political programs accordingly, will find themselves in a more advantageous situation during the upcoming Presidential elections.”
“Does pro-Opposition forces’ mode of action, i.e. the exhausted tactics of raising a wave of revolt against the background of non-existent public dissatisfaction, allow us to assume that the opposition has drawn conclusions from its blunders?”
“Unfortunately not; even in the present-day situation many people do not render themselves account as to what happened during these electoral processes and why. Those who put the emphasis on the lumpenized electorate never realized that such electorate was gradually decreasing in number since the people’s living standards were increasing in the course of time. The better-off are the people, the more conscious, calculated and pragmatic their choice will be. It is inevitable, and those who are unwilling to take account of the realities will be left beyond the logic of political and public developments, finding themselves in the status of ‘outsider’, regardless whether or not they want it. This is a simple political regularity that exists both in the United States and Burkinafaso, as well as in Armenia. Those who realize it will win, those who don’t will lose; that’s’ all.
Therefore, if they do not want to suffer a final defeat, they’d better weigh all the pros and cons instead of organizing street events not matching with time and giving interviews on the verge of tears. They had better consider whether they had anything in common with politics, regardless their representation in the National Assembly.
LILIT POGHOSYAN

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