Arguing that no election bribes had been handed out during the April 2 parliamentary election in Armenia, public commentator Meruzhan Ter-Goulanyan told reporters today in Yerevan that the election took place at a “high level”.

When asked why people so disenchanted with the current government voted for their candidates in the election, Ter-Goulanyan said voters believed in Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, adding that there isn’t a nation on earth where the population doesn’t complain about its officials.

Nikolai Tzaturyan, who works in the theater and was also at the press conference, said that “each nation gets the government it deserves.”

Tzaturyan said that he didn’t vote because he knew the outcome in advance. Adding that he didn’t want to feel tricked, Tzaturyan said he’d only cast a ballot if he believed it would make a difference on the election outcome.

Ter-Goulanyan, who describes himself as pro-state and not pro-government, said that over time the authorities in power change. Tzaturyan then chimed in and asked to show an example.

When asked to speak about how army commanders had instructed soldiers to vote in favor of the ruling party’s candidates, Ter-Goulanyan said that a soldier must vote for the government in power and that soldiers mustn’t have political opinions.

This irked Tzaturyan, saying that such an approach violates the rights of soldiers to hold personal beliefs.

When asked if the election, in which ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) candidates won nearly 50% of the vote, would lead to increased migration, Ter-Goulanyan said that, on the contrary, more people are returning to Armenia.

Tzaturyan said that if one believes the number of eligible voters in Armenia of 2.564 million, as provided by the police, then, any migration has been miniscule.

Ter-Goulanyan argues that there are only two real political parties in Armenia – the RPA and ARF. The rest appear only from election to election cycle.

He said he welcomes the presence of Yelk alliance members in the new parliament. Yelk came in third after the RPA and the Tsarukyan Alliance.

By Anna Avetisyan

4th year student at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Journalism