Elections are a terminated and lost game
Interview with the director of Mkhitar Sebastatsi education complex Ashot Bleyan, who during Hrant Bagratyan’s tenure in 1994-1995 held the post of minister of education.
-Mr. Bleyan, what is your opinion about the nomination of the former Premier Hrant Bagratyan for the post of president and are you going to endorse him?
-No. Indeed, I have a lot of respect to Bagratyan and I think it’s really interesting to listen to his ideas and suggestions especially now. In general, now it’s the time to look for ways and solutions. In this regard, without him these presidential elections would be very uninteresting. By the way, I prefer to read his texts than listen to his speeches.
-In general, among the presidential candidates who has the biggest shot for victory?
-It is against my principles to give such opinions. I am a voter. I carefully listen and have a respectful opinion to call candidates. I have one vote and one ballot, which I can’t divide into parts (laughs – A.S.).
-Who from among other candidates can be a serious competitor to the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan?
-I think that every person doesn’t compete against his opponent. I think every person bids against himself. Every person should be able to believe in his ideas and be able to realize those. That way, they will be more straightforward to the voter and they will gain more respect. Bidding is a bad thing.
-I am talking about political bidding.
-I have once mentioned that Armenia’s tragedy is the absence of the political system, which means that the society has deep distrust towards the institution of elections. This means that the electoral mechanism is malfunctioning and the tool that they are applying to measure the integrity of elections doesn’t work well. And in this sense elections should be useful to change the current reality to the better. And certain grounds should be established for that. And let’s not forget that we are living in a formal society. It seems that everything is imitation and is done merely for the sake of doing. There is no actual election bid, no real process. The voters are very indifferent and frustrated. Seemingly, the voters are cast under shadow. This is the impression we have. It means that it is very important to restore the actual life in Armenia. If there was the real life we would have the election bid that is not formal.
– Nowadays the political atmosphere in Armenia is often considered to be desеrted, and the society seems to be totally indifferent to the political processes. What is your opinion regarding the above-mentioned issue?
-It would be better to call it “formal’ instead of “indifferent.” I see something artificial in everything. The political atmosphere we observed during the rallies at Independence Square or other places, have disappeared. There is no real voter who would ask real questions to any real candidate, there are no real applauses, no inspiration, no criticism and no demarches.
-What should be done in order to restore the political life and atmosphere?
-All of us, all of the voters from all the layers of the society should realize that each of us lives his/her private life; no one should be delegated to rule our lives. Each of us must brighten up his/her lives, as I do. I just live my own life and do my work.
-Does it mean that you try to raise citizens’ consciousness by your own example?
-I just try to live a complete life, and I do think that it helps me to be useful for my friends and the whole environment, to my educational institution, to that very part of the society who is interested in me. All of us always concentrate on the responsibilities that others should carry on; I do think that it is time for each of us to concentrate on our own responsibilities.
-Thus, is it wrong to pin our hopes on the elections?
-Yes, undoubtedly. It is an ended and lost game. The so-called elections are just one phase.
-As a citizen, whose platform do you prefer more?
-I mostly appreciate those platforms where we can see solutions, principles, questions. For example, I never heard about Andrias Ghukasyan before. It is very good that I got to know him due to these elections, and from now on I keep reading everything related to the latter. We still have time, people still have time to open up, while should we forecast anything? Let’s give them and their teams an opportunity for self-expression, and also to those people who support them, who participate in the process. The elections are not the matter of one person, are they? Sometimes you wish to look at the person, who’s standing nearby but turns out he is not there. In general, Armenia becomes very uninteresting in this regard. It seems people are not there. I mean they are there only on Facebook. It is also good that people are on Facebook, expressing their opinions but they should also directly communicate with people. I’d like to see new names and new people. I believe that Armenia has a better potential, it is deeper and more interesting.
By Aram Sargsyan
