Election As Favor By Authorities To Society
Naira Hayrumyan
12:06 12/12/2012
Story from Lragir.am News:
Talking to the demonstrators in defense of Teghut in California, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted indulgently that the authorities
created the conditions for `you to voice your worries’. Actually,
Tigran Sargsyan stated the essence of the government’s policies which
does not try to address to `concerns’ but to create conditions for
their expression.
Tigran Sargsyan is right. In the past five years, the opportunity to
express one’s opinion `painlessly’ was ensured in Armenia, TV channels
have become more open, there are even cases when the authorities yield
the power to the society by not appointing Nono to the position of the
director of Khosrov reserve.
More freedom allowed the authorities to avoid almost unavoidable
social revolt. This allowed the civil society to let steam off, be
happy with the freedom of speech instead of the freedom of creation
and rights to participate in the decision-making process.
Dmitri Peskov, Press secretary of the Russian president, explaining
the reasons of protests in Russia, said that the middle class in
Russia wanted to take part in the decision-making process, and the
authorities were not ready for it.
Apparently, the same process is happening in Armenia with the only
difference that Armenians do not have money but are mature in the
civil sense, and they also want to take part in the decision-making
process. They cannot be happy with some freedom of speech, and the
government which made the progressive decision on `democratization’
five years ago should review its policy.
Now the civil society is the majority, and the authorities are
isolated, and showed in the May elections that they are not going to
allow the society to get close to the decision making process. The
opposition helped the government regarding this issue. It ran in the
elections but did not get the chance to take part in the process of
decision making.
But the situation has changed. The parliamentary majority can pass any
law but outside the parliament the authorities and the discredited
opposition are minority.
In order to have the opportunity to take part in the decision making
process, the society needs to reject the possibility to `express
concerns’. One of such possibilities will be provided as a favor by
the government on February 18. If the society does not express its
attitude to the elections, we will still find ourselves in prison for
another five years, generously provided to us by the authorities.
There we can scream about our rights, scold Taron, giggle and discuss
other people’s decisions.