VOTE FOR 20 EUROS

Armenia is continuing to review the outcome of the parliamentary elections. The votes have long since been counted here - now the citizens of Armenia are trying to understand what kind of country they are living in. And here, without a doubt, there is food for thought. One of the Armenian opposition parties - Democratic Motherland - says: "The elections were held in an atmosphere of terror and fear" and "the regime used the entire technological arsenal to falsify the elections". In particular, the authorities "used vanishing passport stamps" to involve voters absent from Armenia in the mechanism of falsification, which, given the local rates of migration, allowed the coalition parties to put about half a million votes from virtual voters in their piggy bank.

According to Democratic Motherland, "the bribes that are always present in the arsenal of the regime had never been distributed on such a scale before. About one million real participants in the elections, i.e. approximately 80 per cent of voters, had already been bribed when they were brought to the polls, while the collection of passport information and voters' passports had been going on for months. The initiators of this process were the coalition forces - the Republican Party, its appendage, the Orinats Yerkir Party, and the Prosperous Armenia Party - with the active involvement of criminal elements. The so-called 'struggle' of the Prosecutor's Office and police against bribery is one of the dramatized episodes of the elections staged for the benefit of the international community and observers," Democratic Motherland is sure.

Let us add that the parties from the Armenian ruling coalition are unlikely to have gone bankrupt because of these numerous election bribes. Armenian opposition leaders believe that the average price of a real vote was about 20 euros. For a country where electricity is paid for with chicken eggs, it's probably serious money. However, according to "sources", expired products and cheap scarves were also distributed in Armenia as election presents.

It is notable that Armenian analysts and politicians were outraged not so much by the election bribes as by their insignificant amount. What happened in Armenia on 6 May is not an election, but a financial event, political consultant Armen Badalyan lamented in an interview with a News.am reporter. "What is an election? It is when the population shows its will and changes the government from the bottom using a chance provided by the law. Elections show the political mood of society, which happened in France. In Armenia, it was different: the desired scheme was drawn up, which then translated into a real picture with the help of money," he said. Then, he added that 6 May showed how degraded Armenian society was. "People follow not an idea or an ideology, but those who give more money. This is clearly seen in the example of television: the same Armenian National Congress, which had no access to television for a long time, was give airtime - paid, free, they were invited for interviews ... This did not affect the situation," the political consultant Armen Badalyan said in conclusion.

The youth initiative "Let us not be silent!" distributed its own statement, saying that a few days ago, Armenian society was faced with a choice: to evolve towards democratic values or follow the path of strengthening the authorities' authoritarian tendencies. Unfortunately, the second option won.

"Another shameful election is terrible proof of the desire of the Armenian authorities to reproduce at all costs and of the conscious slavery of most of the Armenian people when parents are monstrously ruining the future of their children for the sake of some miserable 10,000-20,000 drams stolen from them and returned during the election in the form of an election bribe. It is with deep regret that we have to note that after another 'bought' election, there will be a new wave of emigration by our countrymen who do not belong to this incompetent caste," the authors of the statement believe.

One of the residents of Davidashen (Yerevan) returned the bribe. Counting the ballots, local election commission No 05/04 took 10,000 drams out of an envelope, where the ballot paper bore the words: "May it stick in your throat!" A member of the constituency election commission, Karina Kazaryan, told the Human Rights in Armenia portal about this. Since polling station No 05/04 was in a kindergarten, according to Kazaryan, they will buy something for children with this money.

Orinats Yerkir handed out cell phones, most of which turned out to be defective. A VivaCell employee reported that every day they get about 10-15 faulty phones from Orinats Yerkir. Owners of the phones did not seem very upset. "We're even, they gave me a defective phone, but I did not vote for them, one of the cheated voters betrayed the secret," Novoye Vremya newspaper quoted Dashnak Yerkir as saying. And he ironically remarks: "It's not yet clear who cheated whom more."

Failure to comply with the previously concluded "gentlemen's" agreements is talked about in Armenia even at a higher level. Thus, according to Armtoday, Armenian Minister of Emergencies Armen Yeritsyan threw a mobile phone at the Orinats Yerkir leader, Artur Baghdasaryan. 

According to Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper, the incident occurred in the office of the OY leader, Artur Baghdasaryan. It all started when the secretary of the Security Council expressed his dissatisfaction with the number of votes the party gained, accusing ... Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. In particular, Baghdasaryan said that Serzh Sargsyan had "cheated" Orinats Yerkir and done nothing to ensure the party's triumphal entry into the Armenian parliament.

In the presence of several people, Baghdasaryan noted that the party gained 5 per cent only thanks to his public appearances. He was so inspired that he called Serzh Sargsyan "a scammer". At this point, Minister of Emergencies Armen Yeritsyan threw a mobile phone at Baghdasaryan, which landed on his head, Chorrord Ishkhanutyun quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

Yeritsyan, of course, denied everything: he is a friend of Baghdasaryan, who is an ardent supporter of the president, and how could anyone think such a thing?! Who the people on the streets of Yerevan believed is an open question.

Meanwhile, Armenia witnessed a real domestic political sensation. According to Regnum, Prosperous Armenia said through its leader Gagik Tsarukyan that it will not join a governing coalition with the Republican Party and considers it inappropriate to participate in the ruling coalition alongside it. "In my speech at the sixth congress of Prosperous Armenia and in speeches by other members of the PAP, it was stressed that the Armenian people need serious change," the media quoted Tsarukyan as saying. "During the election campaign, we took the same position. During the campaign, the PAP presented its programme, and during all meetings with voters, I said that I was not in politics to pursue my personal interests. Furthermore, I stated that I was ready to make sacrifices, but would not betray the people's trust. During the parliamentary elections, the PAP gained nearly 500,000 votes. These people trust us, demanding changes in socioeconomic life. However, according to the results of the elections, the PAP has no right to form a government and implement its programmes. Based on this, I officially declare that Prosperous Armenia considers it inappropriate to join the ruling coalition."

A more explicit statement about defection to the opposition is difficult to imagine. Especially when you consider that until the recent elections, the PAP was part of a coalition with the Republican Party. But now Tsarukyan, the same "vodka oligarch" with a personal zoo in his back yard, seems to have decided to change his ways. By a strange coincidence, it happened immediately after the former president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, who clearly intends to challenge Armenia's current leader, started to actively "seek contacts" with this party.

And it already makes experts recall the risk of that same "force option" once again, especially as dangerous incidents have already been observed in Armenia. "There is a very intense struggle between supporters of the Republican Party of Armenia and Prosperous Armenia. It must be remembered that the Republican candidate is former Environment Minister Murad Muradyan, and the representative of Prosperous Armenia is MP Tigran Stepanyan. Tension has increased so much that supporters of the two parties staged a gunfight on Masis Square. Late at night, the scene was cordoned off by police, but it proved impossible to clarify the details," Hraparak wrote. Now that the PAP and RPA have "clashed" openly, the number of such incidents could increase exponentially, analysts warn.

Against this background, the investigation into the incident that took place at the last election rally of the ruling party in Yerevan seems to have receded into the background. It was thought up as a spectacular spot before the "day of silence" - with a concert, a speech by the president and white balloons.

It seems that the current president of Armenia is very fond of balloons. In any case, on the day of his inauguration, 9 April 2008, there was a festival of balloons "Coloured Sky" in Yerevan, the organizers of which did not pay attention to the fact that it was the 40th day after the March tragedy.

And it just so happened that the balloons at the campaign rally on 4 May 2012 also played a fatal role. One minute before Sargsyan himself was to appear on the platform, the balloons exploded. As a result of the explosion and burning rubber scraps flying over the area, more than 150 people were injured, including several dozen teenagers who held the ill-fated balloons in their hands. Most of those injured were members of the youth wing of the ruling party.

Nevertheless, the concert and the rally went on as usual - even as ambulances took burns victims from the area. Half an hour later, the promised president turned up. "I kept my promise and destroyed the walls that divided our society, I passed obstacles that seemed insurmountable, and now I am proud to say that we have won and are honest with the Armenian people," Sargsyan said without even mentioning the explosion. Many say with irony that apparently, the speechwriters did not have time to correct the text. The next morning, however, Serzh Azatovich went to hospital to visit the victims, described the explosion of the balloons as "a blow to us all" and vowed to find and severely punish those responsible. But the Yerevan opposition is sure that the president did not even approach the patients and just used the occasion for PR.

Almost everyone in Yerevan is sure that the incident on the square was not a terrorist attack. It is just that instead of helium, they pumped cheaper, but at the same explosive hydrogen into the balloons.

Meanwhile, on the same night, Armenia's former foreign minister and one of the leaders of Prosperous Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, wrote on his Facebook page: "I am appalled by the fact that after this incident, the leader of the country presented the electoral programme of his party. I am shocked that this was followed by a concert. I am shocked that the authorities can be so inadequate at a critical time." One of the leaders of the Republican Party list - Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan - responded to him:" I expected a lot of immorality from Vardan Oskanyan, but to score points on this disaster is monstrous and vile." However, both parties zealously ignore another aspect of the problem: if at a meeting with the president, hydrogen rather than helium was pumped into the balloons for the sake of saving money, this gives food for thought about the economic situation of Armenia and "the quality" of the president's entourage.