(Saturday, July 2)
“168 Zham” reports on a new opinion poll which found that most Armenians are not satisfied with their living conditions and that one-quarter of them think that life in the country has actually worsened in the last five years. The paper is not surprised with these results, saying that the poll “showed with numerical data what is known to everyone.” “It’s not surprising that only 7.4 percent of those polled think that life in Armenia has improved in the last five years,” it says.
“When Serzh Sarkisian stated that the Republican Party (HHK) will win the forthcoming elections and that he has no plans to go, hardly anyone in Armenia was surprised or angered because nobody believed in Serzh Sarkisian’s earlier statement that he will not aspire to any state position after the constitutional reform,” writes “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” “And that is quite understandable … The question is how Serzh Sarkisian is going to ensure a victory for the HHK given this deplorable socioeconomic condition.”
“Hraparak” complains that many political parties in Armenia are set up shortly before elections and gain most of their votes with populist and demagogic rhetoric. Worse still, even parties that have been in government and completely discredit themselves in the past somehow manage to again mislead a large part of the electorate, writes the paper. But the worst thing, it says, happens when Armenians vote for the ruling party despite being highly dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country.
“Opposition politicians really think that they are engaged in politics,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “In fact, it’s clear to everyone that it’s not politics at all but rather an imitation of it. A very inept and fraudulent imitation.”The pro-government paper says that the key preoccupation of many opposition leaders is to prevent their parties from collapsing.
(Naira Bulghadarian)