Ter-Petrosyan Turns the Game Around: "Fact"

"Fact" newspaper reports: "The Armenian National Congress has issued a statement presenting an extensive program proposal package, ranging from changes to the Electoral Code and Constitution to approaches regarding various sectors of the economy. However, the substantive content of the program is not the subject of our discussion. This program package can essentially be dubbed a formalization of the ANC's recent political activity. The ANC is declaring its intention to play a role in political life.

This role effectively ended with the 2017 parliamentary elections when the Armenian National Congress did not enter the parliament, yielding the opposition flag to the "Yelk" alliance. Even during the days of the revolution, the ANC was not visible in the political arena. A slight shift in visibility has occurred in recent months.

There are often circulated reports that Nikol Pashinyan is presented as the spiritual heir of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Moreover, there is a significant segment of society that holds a specific stance regarding Levon Ter-Petrosyan's presidency.

Nikol Pashinyan's connection to Ter-Petrosyan could pose certain reputational risks for the government. These discussions escalated when Pashinyan appointed some members from the ANC and participants of the 2008 political movement to various positions recently. Naturally, this circumstance did not escape the attention of those circulating the aforementioned thesis.

The ANC decided to take advantage of these informational currents or this game, where they are seen as tools to discredit Pashinyan in the eyes of society. The attribution of being the ANC and Ter-Petrosyan's spiritual heir to Nikol has pleased the ANC. They began to position themselves within the framework of that approach. Proposals for revisiting history, responding to competitors with party resources on a daily basis, the program proposal package, and of course, the topic of March 1st, are bringing the ANC at least back into the informational forefront of politics. The Congress and Ter-Petrosyan are, in fact, playing the role assigned to them in the informational currents.

This can be summarized as follows: "Yes, Nikol is our spiritual heir; he is one of the faces of the 2008 movement; without 2008, there would be no 2018; Nikol has done what we tried to do."

However, a more important question remains: what is Pashinyan's attitude and stance towards all this? We would not be wrong to say that the news about the current connections between Pashinyan and Ter-Petrosyan have left questions in the minds of the public. Similarly, we would not be wrong to note that if the ANC is not currently on the list of Pashinyan's full-fledged allies, it at least does not belong in the list of “enemies.” Another objective issue is that the moral-psychological distance between Pashinyan and the congressmen, so to speak, is much less than that with “professionals” like Serzh Sargsyan. Nevertheless, there are still no realistic indicators suggesting that Pashinyan is heading towards extensive “Levonization”. Most likely, several motives lie behind this mindset. Firstly, the cadre deficit, which is being attempted to fill with all available resources. In this sense, Pashinyan's appointments include not only "Levonists" but also "Robertists," "Serjists," and "Vazgenists."

Another important factor is that the government currently has no real allies. It would be shortsighted to dismiss the ANC's activity in this context; at least in the informational sphere, it is now advantageous for the authorities.

However, it is naïve to think that Nikol Pashinyan has decided to share power with the ANC or to say, as is currently trendy in various discussions, intends to appoint Ter-Petrosyan as an advisor. We are dealing with a multidimensional game where each side is trying to realize its interests. For now, that realization is occurring in the informational sphere. As for the advisory role, Ter-Petrosyan does not even need a decree or a decision for that.

For more details, refer to today’s issue of the newspaper.