( Monitoring by Anna Vardanyan, 27 November, 2018)

On November 26, the National Assembly extraordinary election campaign officially launched in Armenia. It will last 12 days, and will end on December 7; December 8 constitutes a mandatory campaigning break, and December 9 is the official election day.

Before the official start of the campaign, the main favorite of the Armenian elections, the “My step” alliance lead by former revolutionary and current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has launched its pre-election strategy with the exploit of their old method -marching. The revolution was sparked in April and also started with a march in the provinces of Armenia, which eventually ended with its victory. In the pre-electoral march, initiated by Nikol Pashinyan on November 24, which has been characterized by him as a unique summary of the revolutionary cycle, thousands of citizens took part. It covered 37.5 km and included almost all districts of the capital. The very next day, the Prime Minister announced his official vacation to fully participate in the campaign. This option was viewed as a shocking circumstance by some political forces, and in particular by the former Republican authorities, especially ahead of the session of the CSTO summit that is to be held in Saint Petersburg on December 6. “It is not traditional that the Prime Minister, being confident in his victory, leaves the crucial event of the CSTO and goes on the campaign trail”, said RPA Deputy Chairman Armen Ashotyan. Nikol Pashinyan also will not participate in the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council that is to be held in Minsk on November 27. He will be replaced by the Deputy PM Ararat Mirzoyan during both events. According to political scientist Gagik Keryan, the CSTO session probably just coincided with the campaign. "There is a second side to this case - CSTO member states have made their decision, and there is not much difference, whether Nikol Pashinyan or the Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will participate in the session. Pashinyan’s attendance will hardly influence the decision of those countries” , the expert concluded.

Elections with a predictable outcome - The strategies of the parties

The campaign tactics of the main political rivals become apparent through the slogans that have been launched. In the bigger picture, the logic of the pre-election campaigning and the December 9 election overall is primarily influenced by the struggle for the second place and for the title of the main opposition, which has been claimed by the former elite of the RPA. The second trend, which is characteristic for this campaign, is the indisputable fact that Pashinyan’s party is set to take the first place of the first place. Everyone has accepted the victory of the “My step” bloc. The “Civil contract” or “My step” alliance will complete its power by promising to disseminate the political revolution into the economic sphere. The Republican Party has mirrored Pashinyan’s strategy, using his methods against himself by referring to the displeased population. The tone of Nikol Pashinyan's campaign is characterized by a certain aggressiveness directed to the former authorities. This is accompanied by mutual accusations. On November 27, during the meeting with the residents of the Armenia's third largest city, Spitak, Pashinyan urged not to vote for the former “robbers and thieves”. “The former brigade of plunderers should be sent to the history dump”, said Pashinyan and threatened to smash all the RPA community leaders’ faces into the floor who will dare to intimidate the voters.

In response, the central headquarter of the Republican Party issued a statement, aiming to draw the attention of the Human Rights Defender’s office and international observer missions to the Prime Minister's rhetoric and his behavior. “A number of expressions made by the acting PM yesterday and today were the strongest examples of hate speech and pass all the admissible limits of political competition and violate human and moral principles,” the statement says, adding that such behavior is unprecedented in Armenia’s political culture.

Meanwhile, the forecasts on the results of the Armenian snap parliamentary elections continue.