LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IS DEFEATED

On February 12 local elections will be held in several communities of Armenia. It is going to be hot in Hrazdan where the incumbent Republican mayor Aram Danielyan and Sasun Mikayelyan from the Armenian National congress will be running. In the other communities the race will not be so tense unless disagreement occurs between the Republicans and the Bargavach Hayastan.In countries with developed political systems local elections are an important platform for the national elections, and the force that wins is the favorite force in the national elections.In Armenia, however, the opposition has completely "let the local elections go" to the government and only in exceptional cases does it participate in the race. In the recent years the scramble for local elections was mostly between the Republicans and the Bargavach Hayastan Party for the head of a town or a village.And the race usually is not of political nature. Local elections are fertile soil for local strongmen and criminals when they run personally or nominate their protégés, while the government tolerates this to use the local self-governments to ensure the results of the national elections.Should the opposition think about changing the situation or is the tactics of focusing on national "battles" more correct? The opposition has already made a choice considering that the government does not have enough resource to fight in places separately, hence this must be ignored, and resource should be concentrated on national elections.On the other hand, however, when local elections are surrendered, the resource adds to the government, and the opposition loses in local elections. In this case, of course, defeat is referred to election fraud when election fraud cannot be combated due to the lack of resource. For already a few years, this tactics does not produce the necessary result and the government which defeated local self-government uses it effectively for the national "battle".Perhaps it is time the opposition reviewed the approaches and started paying more attention to opposing to the local elections, which may foster decentralization in Armenia. Decentralization alone may help the opposition to achieve better results in national elections. Otherwise, delivering politics to the regions only during the election campaign leads to a situation when the game is over before the local audience is able to understand what is happening. HAKOB BADALYAN

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Headlines for January 26, 2012

UK SUPPORTS SELF-DETERMINATION
The UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced in his speech at the PACE that they support self-determination. After Cameron's speech to the PACE plenary session Member of Parliament Naira Zohrabyan asked ...
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On January 25 the foreign minister of Armenia visiting Latvia met with the Latvian president Andris Bezinsh. The president of Latvia stated that his country is interested in deepening and strengthening ...
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IS DEFEATED
On February 12 local elections will be held in several communities of Armenia. It is going to be hot in Hrazdan where the incumbent Republican mayor Aram Danielyan and Sasun Mikayelyan from the Armenian ...
HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND LAUNCHES CONSTRUCTION OF KINDERGARTEN IN MARTUNI REGION'S SOS VILLAGE
The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has begun construction of a kindergarten in Sos, a village in Artsakh's Martuni Region. The project is co-sponsored by the fund's French affiliate and the government of ...
ABSOLUTE POWER OR DECEPTION
Galust Sahakyan states that in 2012 the Republicans will not only keep what they already have but will enhance their influence in parliament. The parliament has 131 seats. The Republican faction has 63 ...
ONLY COERCION
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OSKANYAN WASN'T CONSIDERED
The minister of urban planning Vardan Vardanyan, Bargavach Hayastan Party, denied press reports that the ex-foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan will run in the parliamentary elections on this party's list. ...
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ORANGE SUPPORTS AUTISTIC CHILDREN
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LEVON TER-PETROSYAN MET U.S. OFFICIAL
On January 26, the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan met with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Erik Rubin. The U.S. Ambassador John Heffern was also present in the meeting. The interlocutors ...
WHAT U.S. WANTS FROM TER-PETROSYAN
The leader of the Armenian National Congress Levon Ter-Petrosyan and the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Erik Rubin discussed "the current state of the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement and the settlement ...