Thursday, December 6 2018 17:32

ArmInfo. Five out of the 11 political forces that participate in the elections to the National Assembly are in favor of sharp reversals in foreign policy. And in  this sense, the most radical is the Sasna Tsrer party. This was  announced at a press conference by the chairman of the party "In the  name of social justice" Arman Ghukasyan, who presented in detail the  election programs of political forces in terms of foreign policy.

According to him, the Sasna Tsrer party is in favor of withdrawing  Armenia from the CSTO and the EAEU, as well as for the withdrawal of  the Russian border troops and the 102nd military base from Armenia.  The "We" bloc also supports the withdrawal of Armenia from the EAEU,  noting that this integration union has given nothing to our country.  The electoral program of the Citizen's Decision Party states that  bilateral agreements between Armenia and Russia should be revised, in  particular, on the military base in Gyumri and the Russian border  troops. "This is a non-standard and unbalanced approach, but it also  has a right to exist," Ghukasyan said, pointing out that their  political force favors a balanced foreign policy, because sharp  reversals are dangerous for the country and do not flow from genuine  state interests. Touching upon another new force, the National  Progress party, Ghukasyan recalled that this party had recently  announced that the EAEU is a closed dictatorial club. This force is  also pro-Western in external relations, deepening and developing  cooperation with the EU. As for the Christian People's Party, headed  by political analyst Levon Shirinyan, questions arise because they  claim that they are an Armenian- centric force and are not  pro-Western or pro-Russian, however, Shirinyan himself has repeatedly  stated that he supports the Sasna Tsrer party.

"There is a question of how they can be Armenian-centric, but support  the forces that come up with radical anti-Russian slogans," he said.  The speaker stressed that the approaches of the political forces are  important not only in domestic but also in foreign policy, hoping  that the voter will make his choice being knowledgeable about these  programs. According to Arman Ghukasyan, there is no doubt that the My  Step bloc will gain a majority in the National Assembly, but it is  important to understand that even the forces that advocated abrupt  reversals in foreign policy came to power became supporters of a  balanced policy, which really reflects genuine interests of Armenia.  The next speaker, party member, political scientist Levon Rukhkyan,  noted that this campaign was unprecedented, he also emphasized the  positive and negative sides of the election campaign. The positive  thing is that during this campaign, the culture of debate is becoming  increasingly noticeable, which gives voters a complete picture of the  number of candidates. Unlike previous elections, during these ones  information technologies play a very important role. Parties and  individual candidates actively use social networks as a tool to  promote their programs and ideas. The third positive trend is that  society hopes for fair elections, since the threat of fraud is  minimized.  "We cannot exclude election bribes, but it is obvious  that in these elections they are not as widespread as during the  previous ones," Rukhkyan said. As for the negative manifestations,  then, according to the speaker, it is unacceptable when political  forces fight for second place, and today this tendency is noticeable.  He noted that the political force that comes up with a specific  program receives votes for the implementation of this program, and  when it declares that it runs for the second place, it diminishes its  chances by sending a message to the voter that this program will not  be implemented in life. Moreover, it is unacceptable when some  political forces base their campaign on the basis of criticism of the  previous government, and not on the basis of their program.  "Unfortunately, we cannot say that during the campaign there were no  obstacles, they were, but not so much significant," he added.