A democratic Armenia

Published: Saturday May 19, 2007

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the elections held in Armenia on May 12 was the renewed confidence with which the people of Armenia can look each other in the eye and say they live in a democracy. This confidence will help the new government as it sets out to lead the country. It will also make for a more engaged electorate going into the presidential elections a mere nine months away.

This engaged electorate will see a political field that has been reshaped in some significant ways.

The Republican Party of Armenia, which needed a coalition to govern after the 2003 election, is now in a position to do so on its own. Its leaders have indicated a desire to cooperate with other forces, and it remains to be seen whether they will take sole responsibility for the state of affairs in the coming few years. This party has changed leaders twice in the past few years, but has remained coherent.

The party nominated the owners and managers of some of Armenia's biggest businesses as its candidates for parliament, and as such it is heavily associated with big business. This association makes it especially important - and especially challenging - for the governing party to fight corruption, especially tax-dodging and unfair competitive practices.

It is unlikely to come under much pressure to do so from the Prosperous Armenia Party, which emerged from naught to capture 26 seats in the National Assembly. It too is closely associated with the power of big money. It will, however, have a chance to differentiate itself from the Republic Party over the term of the parliament.

Offering a social-democratic alternative to the orientation of the first two parties is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Over the past four years, the party had a chance to show some of what it could do as a party of government and build administrative cadres (ministers, deputy ministers). In this election, it gained the trust of a larger number and proportion of voters than before. It now faces decisions as to the role it will take upon itself somewhere between an alliance with the Republican majority and opposition to it.

The Country of Laws Party came out of the 2003 elections with the second-largest number of seats and was part of the coalition government until early 2006; it has been part of the opposition since then. The party is led by Artur Baghdasarian who - as this page has noted before - appears overly reliant on Western powers for support. Now in fourth place, it is the largest unequivocally opposition party in parliament.

Raffi Hovannisian's Heritage Party made an impressive first showing, winning 7 seats in parliament with 6 percent of the vote. The party won a plurality of the vote in parts of Yerevan and polled reasonably well outside the capital as well. Its great asset is its founder's reputation for integrity. Many Armenians will be looking to the Heritage Party to hold the governing parties accountable for their conduct over the coming years. Among its challenges will be to demonstrate political maturity and develop a solid rank and file.
A full quarter of the vote in this election went to parties that did not win at least 5 percent of the vote. The purpose of the 5-percent threshold is to encourage political consolidation. A two-party system, such as that in the United States, may be said to give voters too few choices. But 23 parties in an election is unwieldy, and we can expect to see some healthy consolidation going into future elections.

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As for the election process itself, foreign and domestic observers agree that it was free and fair though not flawless. The parties and individual candidates were able to reach voters in person and through the mass media. Most parties offered platforms for voters to consider, and voters were exposed to serious debates about the feasibility and the relative merits of the various proposals. As a well-informed electorate went to the polls, their votes were counted honestly and the announced results corresponded to the votes actually cast.

The most prevalent credible complaint is that voters were offered inducements to vote for certain parties. There is evidence that many voters were not swayed by such inducements, but there is little evidence that the prosecutor general has taken serious and systematic steps to prevent the buying and selling of votes. All parties need to understand that the penalties for such fraud are serious and the risk of getting caught is dangerously high.

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May, we wrote two weeks ago, is a month of victories for Armenians. For a nation that has struggled long and hard for freedom and independence, the conduct of the May 12 elections- where an informed electorate conscientiously made important choices about its future - is a new triumph. We appreciate all who ran and all who voted. Those who received the people's mandate this week have our best wishes for success as they set out to fulfill their commitments.

Armenians in Armenia and throughout the world can and should proudly support Armenia as it confronts old and new challenges in the weeks, months, and years ahead.