One of the most important elements of the art of political governance is the formation and spread of a false or irrelevant agenda in order to occupy and mislead society. In such cases, it is necessary to fill the media field with news, incidents, analyzes about this agenda, while, as far as possible, keeping the intrigue. But no matter how important this topic is for the public, it can be maintained until new scandalous information or scandalous event appears on the fake agenda to make society forget about the previous one. This is a well-known trick for creating imitations of the political process.

That's the situation today in Armenia. The fact is that the events around the amendments to the Electoral Code are not so clear to the people. Popular thoughts and judgments on the updated Code begin and end with the fact that elections should not be falsified and should express the true attitude of society to a particular political force. For the sake of eliminating fraud during elections, they are convinced that the will of the government is sufficient, and the police will ensure fair elections, as was the case during the elections to the Yerevan Council of Elders. This exhausts the entire stock of understanding of this problem among a large segment of the population.  

We now turn to the behavior of the NA factions, although this is a separate subject of discussion. The existing Constitution and Electoral Code, “stitched” “by size” of the ruling party, i.e., proceeding from its interests, are very beneficial for the government of our time, in this case the Civil Contract party. However, this political force is in favor of the amendments to the Electoral Code. And, in general, each of the political actors seems to be opposing their own interests in this matter. Why?

The government seeks to show the public that it is fulfilling its post-revolutionary promises, or at least one of them. Another motive, a convincing reason, at least not publicly voiced. This is the case when for the ruling power the main thing is not the content of the law, but the actual process itself. Isn't this all a matter to create the impression of a serious political process?

The RPA -- which is a de facto opposition -- and has modest opportunities for passing to the National Assembly, seems to have been interested in these changes, but takes the opposite position. The amended Code opens a window of opportunity for the Republican Party to make it to the parliament. The only reasonable explanation for the behavior of this party is probably due to the opinion of the Venice Commission’s chairman that it is not recommended to hold elections soon after the introduction of amendments to the Code. And minor changes in this case should be made with the mutual consent of large political actors. RPA seeks to show that there is no consensus. In other words, it wants to create problems for the government, although this behavior is contrary to its own interests.

The position of “Prosperous Armenia” is especially interesting. The latter is the main structure that is interested in the failure of the project: after all, the main beneficiary of maintaining the “rating” electoral system is “Prosperous Armenia”. However, it initiated a petition to convene a new extraordinary session to introduce failed changes, which can have only one explanation - serve the government. This is not related to the interests of the PA and is not a manifestation of political behavior.

Thus, we are dealing with a political phenomenon, where everyone opposes their own natural interests, but each of them is trying to solve other problems that are more populist or even fall far beyond the rational plane. The current state of the political atmosphere in Armenia goes beyond political logic and common sense. And at the same time, it is the axis of current political processes.

Political organizations are called upon to develop and implement serious agendas that will provide real solutions to the vital problems facing the country.