Armenians Overwhelmingly Reject Existing Parties, Want to See New Ones Emerge – OpEd
By Paul Goble
A new poll shows that Armenians overwhelmingly view the existing parliamentary parties negatively and consider that new parties need to emerge that will more adequately reflect their views, positions that suggest the revolution in Armenia is not slowing down but will have a major impact on the results of the upcoming parliamentary vote.
The Voice of the People Club interviewed 1200 Armenians over the age of 18 in Yerevan and rural Armenia between July 10 and August 10. Sixty-three percent of those sampled rated the existing parliamentary parties in a negative way; only 15 percent had a positive view of them (kavkazoved.info/news/2018/08/18/socopros-grazhdane-armenii-ozhidaut-uchastie-novyh-partij.html).
Respondents were most positive about the Elk bloc and the Tsarukyan bloc, with 64 percent saying they had a positive view of the former and 47 percent of the latter. Only eight percent had a positive view of the Dashnaktsutyun, and only three percent were positive about the long-dominant Republican Party of Armenia.
Perhaps more important, 82 percent of the sample said that participation by new political parties in the upcoming poll is “a necessity.” Six percent said there were enough parties already, with 12 percent saying that they found it difficult to answer that question.
If the elections were held tomorrow, 74 percent said they would vote for Elk if it allied itself with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Many fewer said they would vote for other parties.
