Nikol Pashinyan and members of the Communist Party were in agony over the fear of losing power.

During the entire pre-election period, on the one hand, they scared the people with war, on the other hand, they used state funds and government levers to bribe the citizens for the sake of the CP reproduction. The opposition was widely intimidated, criminal cases were initiated for hiring legal workers in pre-election headquarters, legally paid salaries were described as bribes, money laundering, and people were taken into custody, while they freely distributed money from the budget, made extravagant promises, and abused their position of power.

The government, which has considered raising pensions impossible, even senseless for years, decided to raise pensions 2 months before the elections. Regardless of what name will be attached to it, it had one goal and the price of that goal is almost 200 million dollars, which, in fact, was indirect pre-election assistance given to the ruling political force from the state budget, which all other political forces participating in the elections are deprived of.

200 million is the price that the government paid from the state budget in order to secure votes for KP among pensioners during the elections.

To remind, pensioners are the largest group of voters, whose votes they “decided to buy” for 10,000 drams. On the other hand, they tried to cover the topic of their seven-figure bonuses. Especially since they have no intention to refuse to distribute bonuses.

The small and big government officials who receive bonuses do not form a less large group among the voters. Therefore, they tried to preserve their votes by allocating large sums of money from the state budget.

This pre-election assistance given to CP cost the state 21-22 million dollars. We are talking only about the additional bonuses, which are called semi-annual incentives. Current bonuses are not included in that amount.

Before the elections, the next pre-election initiative, which was decided to be implemented in support of the political government, was the financing of interest-free agricultural loans at the expense of the state budget. The state assumed the entire burden of subsidizing the interest of those loans.

What it will cost the state budget will depend on the demand presented by the villagers. The higher the demand, the wider they will open the state’s pocket.

But, as we have been convinced many times, this is not a problem for the CP when the danger of losing power is on the table. It is the danger of losing power that forced everyone to bribe everyone at the expense of the state shortly before the elections. At the expense of the budget, they decided not only to provide interest-free loans, but also to subsidize the prices of fertilizers and milk procurement.

From April 1, the salaries of the employees of the capital’s ambulance and care centers under the Ministry of Social Affairs were raised. From May 1, the salaries of the employees of kindergartens under Yerevan Municipality.

Why exactly from April or May 1, when the year starts from January 1, is still clear.

It has been a long time since they stopped the project of building apartments with the help of the state in the border settlements. We are talking about the program of 16 million people. It was decided that the project would not be restarted because, apart from the many problems that had arisen with it, it had also become a way for some people to build summer houses in the border areas.

To the surprise of many, it was reopened again with political expectations.

2 months before the elections, the property tax of electric cars was drastically reduced.

With political expectations, they even made concessions for the citizens of Artsakh in the housing maintenance program. In some areas, the amount for the purchase of an apartment was increased by 1 million drams.

Until then, they were categorically against it, they reminded the people of Artsakh before the elections.

For the sake of reproduction of CP, they bribed not only citizens, but also businesses. They decided to review the conditions for criminalizing businesses for non-payment of taxes.

It is known that when cases of non-fulfilment of tax obligations exceeding 10 million drams are discovered, criminal cases are filed against businesses and people are taken to prison. This caused serious complaints among the business community. But it was not known yesterday, nor was it the first day. It was like that for years, but only on the eve of the elections they remembered about it and eased the conditions.

Before the elections, big business could not be offered a better pre-election bribe.

The commissions charged by banks during cashless trade were also reduced for small businesses.

Suddenly and without financial security, they introduced medical insurance. Even those who were deprived of their driving license due to drunken driving were “selflessly” restored.

These are not all pre-election initiatives, through which they tried to secure votes for CP before the elections by using state funds and state levers. That series is so long that it is even pointless to mention and enumerate it all. But that is what the government tried to ensure its reproduction by widespread bribery at the expense of state funds and distribution of promises to the voters.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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