Arushanyan Became a Symbol of Struggle: Symbols Always Win, Political Technologist on Elections

It is hard to say whether the defeat in three major communities of Armenia was unexpected for the authorities, but there were certain signals indicating that at least in Goris, the opposition candidate would win, said political technologist Armen Badalyan in a conversation with Aysor.am.

According to him, the reason for the defeat of the ruling party in Meghri, Goris, and Gyumri was basically that the government failed to leverage the topic of the former authorities as well as the military.

“In particular, in Goris, Arush Arushanyan was the figure who, while being in prison, became a symbol of struggle. And symbols always win. As for Gyumri, despite the great efforts and administrative resources invested by the government, they lost not only to the Balasanyan Alliance but also to all the forces participating in the elections collectively. The government sees that these forces received approximately double the votes compared to the ruling party. Thus, the government suffered a double defeat in Gyumri. This was also very symbolic,” our interlocutor added, noting that the people of Gyumri preferred to vote for the experienced governor Samvel Balasanyan rather than the novice young candidate from the ruling party.

Regarding the results recorded in Meghri, Armen Badalyan noted that a candidate from a Western-oriented force won here. “In all those places where there was an active candidate and a fighting bloc, the government lost, and where there wasn't, like in Dilijan, the ruling candidate won,” said Badalyan.