Tuesday, 26 November 2024

E Editorial

City Council elections: the vote cast by the residents of Yerevan would be decisive

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In 2018, the political field in Armenia in fact collapsed. To put it more simply, the political parties without ideology, in part playing a role of fake opposition, which continuously participated in the elections with fraud and vote buying, collapsed in 2018.

Subsequently the snap parliamentary elections were held in Armenia in 2021, and the ruling political force, the Civil Contract party, that is, the party of defeat, forged ahead with promises of peace policy. No wonder the people who had just witnessed the horrors of an unhuman war and unspeakable atrocities believed, or rather wanted to believe, that they would enter an era of peace, no matter if without Artsakh, and they voted for the Civil Contract party, especially since its alternative – the official opposition with revanchist ambitions and, in their opinion, irreconcilable with defeat, was rather discredited and could lead the country to a new war, with new disastrous consequences for its people.

However, life showed the exact opposite: the peace platform promised by the Civil Contract party, actually led to a creeping war with no apparent end. The large-scale war that unleashed in September 2020 has been waged for three years now, and the enemy has no intention of stopping it with its never-ending demands. This has caused deep disappointment and confusion among the public, with no political forces to offer a reasonable alternative.

In their turn, no alternatives suggest no political system, i.e., there is no integrity of ruling and opposition political parties, or, in architectural terms, no unyielding joint structure to offer alternative projects for the future, and for the public to choose between during the elections. If there are no plans for the future, then there is no political system either.

The next parliamentary elections are due in 2026, unless they are snap elections. It is obvious that the current government is already discredited and will hardly be able to drag its miserable existence for another 3 years. We do not have enough territory to cede to Azerbaijan in parts until 2026, neither do we have enough human resources to put on the altar until 2026.

So what can be done? To be held in September, Yerevan City Council elections open a window of opportunity in this matter. Yerevan is half of Armenia, moreover, its main half in financial and cultural terms, therefore, what choice the people of Yerevan make, can be decisive during the next, regular and most likely, snap national elections.

In this sense, the upcoming Yerevan City Council elections may be symbolic, which should turn into a start of new political relations. We will hardly have a better opportunity until the end of the year, and maybe in a longer term.

The time has come for political updates, and the people of Yerevan have a decisive say in it with their vote to cast on September 17. So, all those stereotypes that "nothing depends on us," "those who decide have already decided everything," etc. are out of date. This is one of the fallacies. The vote cast by you, the resident of Yerevan would be decisive. Try it!

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies

Yerznkian 75, 0033
Yerevan, Armenia

Tel.:

+374 10 528780 / 274818

Website:

www.acnis.am

  

The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Center.

While citing the content, the reference to "ACNIS ReView from Yerevan” is obligatory.