In contrast to the last parliamentary election campaign in Armenia, this time around, the political parties contesting for seats are plugging away by using more general, pie in the sky promises, to lure voters to their side.

This is especially true of the three parties that make up the ruling coalition – the Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia and the Rule of Law.

It would seem that the three are avoiding making specific promises along the lines of reducing poverty by 25%, raising pension allowances by 10%, increasing new jobs by 20,000, etc. They probably don’t want to get pinned down spewing numbers that can come back to haunt them.

Republican Party of Armenia – The senior member of the coalition has left no sector untouched when it comes to campaigning and thus the variety of its starry-eyed promises is clearly evident.

One of its oft-cited promises is “Justice for All”, which is followed by the argument that, “In a short period of time, the activities of the police, prosecutor’s offices and judges in our country will be called on to defend the rights and interests of all citizens, to ensure the availability to legal justice to all members of society and a just resolution of all arguments.”

Such rhetoric, while sounding universal themes, is also an involuntary confession of sorts that in today’s Armenia the cops and the courts in fact do not defend the common interests and rights of the citizens.

When it comes to the economy, the party calls for a “change in economic policy”, but its explanations are muddied and lacking specific targets. For example, it states that, “The Republican Party places great importance on creating conditions whereby all citizens can live dignified lives through private labor” and “Armenia needs investment, modern enterprise and new technologies based on joint state-private sector collaboration”.

The Republican Party may talk about state-private sector cooperation nut the fact remains that the country has been and continues to be dominated by economic monopolies that are well represented in the parliament. These MPs are more concerned with promoting their ever expanding business interests than promoting a truly free and competitive economic marketplace.

As proof, in the 2007 parliamentary campaign the Republican Party promised that by 2012 Armenia’s GDP would double. Back then, the GDP was around 3.1 trillion AMD. In 2011, it had merely grown to 3.8 trillion.

The Republican Party also fell short on its promise to raise wages. During the past five years the average monthly salary rose to 115,000 AMD from 74,000, far below the promised 148,000 AMD.

The party also failed to achieve its campaign promise to increase pensions and assistance allowances by a factor of 2.5. Neither has it cut poverty levels by the promised factor of 1.5. On the contrary, the number of those living under the poverty line has grown.

Pensions have increased by around 10,000 AMD, reaching 31,225 from 21,370. Poverty allowances have increased by 8,000 AMD, reaching 29,530 from the prior 21,100.

The Republican Party never fails to talk about its achievements over the past five years in the current campaign. Not surprisingly, when it comes to government successes, the Republican Party takes all the credit. When it comes to government failures, the Republican Party tends to place the onus on the other coalition members.

Prosperous Armenia Party – The second most powerful coalition member also favors clichés over specifics in its campaign speeches and literature. The party slogan is “Our Word is Our Work”, but Prosperous Armenia avoids specifics in its campaign stumps before the electorate.

The party talks about “A strong economy-a prosperous country”, and then goes on to say that, “Our main goal is building a prosperous and well-to-do country, based on the principles of a liberal relations and a competitive and productive economic sector”. Who could argue with such sentiments? The question remains – how to achieve such goals? The party offers no specifics.

Prosperous Armenia points to the urgency of job creation, not only in terms of economic development but as a main factor in stemming emigration from Armenia. It talks about the need for government to assume certain obligations and then meeting these obligations.

Such talk is just more toothless political drivel, especially when it comes from a party in the governing coalition for the past five years. What were the Prosperous Party MPs doing in the National Assembly all that time? None seem inclined to shoulder their share of accountability.

Rule of Law – After the 2008 presidential election, this party became the right hand of the authorities and a trusted friend.

In the current campaign, the party is practically parroting the promises of five years ago; only the focus has changed.

To spur natural births in Armenia, the party proposes a one-time lump sum payment of 100,000 AMD to families with one kid, 200,000 AMD for a second child, 500,000 for a third, 600,000 for a fourth, and 1 million for parents giving birth to a fifth.

The party also proposes low rate home mortgages to young families based on the number of children they have. The more children, the lower the rates.

When it comes to using general campaign promises, the Rule of Law is no slouch either.

Here are a few examples of the party’s campaign jargon – “We must invest in new, modern ways to facilitate the sale of agricultural produce, we must decrease the middleman factor in the producer-consumer equation, we must organize farmers’ markets in the country’s larger cities”, “There must be constant reform of the tax and customs codes and developmental assistance to the leading sectors of the economy.”

Again, the party prefers to play it safe by speaking in generally accepted generalities than specifics.

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