ArmInfo. Having strangled the electoral political process, the Artsakh government will only spill the political processes onto the streets. Such an opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by Artsakh security expert Hrachya Arzumanyan.
At the upcoming March 31 presidential election in Artsakh, 12 candidates registered. At least about ten of them, in any kind or another, represent the current government. The main candidate for power is the ex- minister of state, one of the richest businessmen of Artsakh, Araik Harutyunyan. His main rival from the opposition is the Foreign Minister of the Republic Masis Mayilyan.
According to expert estimates, this situation indicates the desire of the authorities to reduce the upcoming elections to the level of a farce show in order to maintain power in their hands. However, by such methods, the authorities, according to his forecasts, will only achieve the transformation of society's opposition from the electoral form of the struggle to the street form. And this already threatens more severe consequences for the government itself, the departure of which will not be as "velvet" as it happened in 2018 in Armenia. "For nearly a year now, I have been urging the authorities to leave through elections. The desire to maintain power at all costs will turn out to be a loss not only of power to them. And the atmosphere of fear that they are inflamed will turn into violent actions of young people against specific individuals. The authorities should admit defeat, it's not too late to admit, there are no alternative scenarios, "he is convinced.
Arzumanyan, commenting on the possible influence of Yerevan on the electoral processes in Artsakh, notes alarming trends. He emphasized that the name of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in Artsakh is no longer associated with the main candidate from the government, which is good, first of all, for Pashinyan himself.
At the same time, the expert extremely negatively assesses the support provided to the same Harutyunyan by the speaker of the Armenian parliament Ararat Mirzoyan. According to his forecasts, the victory of Araik Harutyunyan, the revenge-seeking forces in Artsakh, will be unambiguously connected with Mirzoyan. What will threaten not the most pleasant consequences for both Mirzoyan and Harutyunyan. The defeat of Harutyunyan will inflict a severe blow on the image of Mirzoyan as a politician who placed the outgoing regime on the oligarch, and not on the progressive part of the Artsakh society.
"I believe that there is still time for the speaker of the Armenian parliament to force Harutyunyan to refuse to use his name in the election campaign until all these manipulations have been buried by his political future. Artsakh people are in essence healthy people. We just need a new government that meets our expectations, capable of gradually completing Miatsum and already moving forward together, " - summed up Arzumanyan.