There is just a "resource race" going on between the different participants within the framework of the election campaign in Armenia. Former Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, who is the chairman and prime ministerial candidate of the Wings of Unity party, stated this at a press conference Friday, as he recapped the results of the two-week election race for parliament.

According to Tatoyan, in essence, the voters are offered to choose not the political force that will govern Armenia, but the external force that supports this or that party or bloc. “People are offered to make a choice in favor of which external force they will vote for: Moscow, Brussels, Baku, Washington. No one is talking about what Armenia needs, what the choice is for Armenia.”

In parallel, as per Tatoyan, a climate of fear and hostility is being created in Armenia, mainly through the efforts of the ruling Civil Contract party. “They [i.e. the representatives of the Civil Contract party] have become a kind of ‘knights of fear’ and ‘masters of sowing hatred and lies,’” he said. The current ruling team, presenting itself as a “defender of democracy and human rights,” has simultaneously created a whole system of intimidation, division and sowing hostility in society, and this system is developing and spreading throughout Armenia.

Also, Tatoyan pointed to the problem of selective justice in Armenia. He recalled that his party presented facts about the coercion of students and lecturers to participate in the election campaign rallies of the ruling force, and his party filed a report on the crime. However, law enforcement agencies did not take any action in response to the submitted report. “And what happens when such reports concern opposition forces?” Tatoyan asked rhetorically.

The leader and PM candidate of the Wings of Unity party emphasized that Armenia’s law enforcement agencies “work in sync with the authorities.” Accusations are made at the ruling party’s election campaign rallies, and they are immediately followed by similar accusations from law enforcement agencies. Tatoyan noted that what is happening in Armenia today contradicts the principles of democracy and human rights.

Tatoyan touched also upon the ruling party’s new “slogan” of “Why didn’t you die during the [Nagorno-Karabakh] war [in 2020]?” The oppositionist considered such a wording of the question absurd in itself, especially when it is voiced by the prime minister and the defense minister. He emphasized that any leader should be interested in ensuring that as many servicepersons as possible return home from the war, but the current ruling elite of Armenia presents this as an accusation. Such a position is simply another attempt by the authorities to blame the soldiers for the results of their own policies.

“During Stalin’s time, everyone who returned from the front was interrogated and punished. What is happening now [in Armenia] is the same Stalinism. People who constantly talk about European values and democracy are guided by Stalinist methods,” Tatoyan stated.

Source: https://news.am/en/news/1037457