Sargsyan wasted no time in turning out campaign promises for his presumed 5-10 year reign:

“Education and knowledge will be the most demanded value for every Armenian family. The incomes of Armenian families will at least double. Every single newly formed family will have an opportunity to get an apartment and a car,” he said.

“From now on we will have to think not of fighting poverty, but of building a safe and secure society. Even the farthest borderland village residents should lead a deserved life,” added Sargsyan.

His acceptance speech also was an opportunity to lash back at former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who announced his candidacy in a rally October 26, during a 1 hour 30 minute speech that was his personal indictment of the reigning government, including Sargsyan.

“I’ll give an advice to (Ter-Petrosyan),” Sargsyan said. “It would be good if he confessed and brought his apologies to the Armenian people for, to put it mildly, his mistakes. Ter-Petrosyan had an opportunity to devotedly serve the Armenian people on the high position of the Presdeint of the Republic of Armenia. For many reasons he was unable to do that and left his position as Commander-in-Chief on his own will at a very difficult moment for the Fatherland leaving the people on the verge of hopelessness, with a deteriorated economy, unhealthy moral-psychological atmosphere and a loser mentality.

“But our people, led by President Robert Kocharyan, managed to stabilize the situation and create good grounds for the development of the country. And now they want to destructure the state. Any such attempt will be prevented.”

Well, despite what Sarkisian says, it should be pointed out that Ter Petrosian hardly left his position as president without some “assistance,” shall we say, from himself, Robert Kocharian and ironically enough, the brother of one of Levon’s main opposition supporters now.

I’d also add that when Sarkisian says “any such attempt will be prevented” that I hope he means through a free and fair election campaign where the voters are presented various platforms and allowed to make an informed decision before voting.

Somehow, however, I very much doubt it.

Meanwhile, I don’t believe that Levon Ter Petrosian and Aram Sarkisian et al are short of a few bob. They might not have as much as when their clans were in power, but I don’t believe they’re wanting much more than power and the good old days when they were top of the heap.

Still, if you were to say that corruption under Kocharian and Serzh is far greater than under Levon Ter Petrosian I’d have to agree, or at least it appears to have grown since 1998 when I moved here. Even so, while some people I’ve spoken to say they will vote for Levon it’s only because they hate Serzh.

Ideally, however, they want someone new, fresh, forward-looking and clean, but in today’s Armenia, that doesn’t seem like an option that’s on offer.

Armenia’s dominant political party is not taking the upcoming presidential election lightly. At its recent party congress, the Republican Party of Armenia nominated Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian to be its presidential candidate in the February 19 election. Party leaders also opened a rhetorical offensive against Sarkisian’s main challenger, former president Levon Ter-Petrosian.

The congress, held November 10, was designed to reinforce in the minds of voters an aura of the Republican Party’s invincibility. Held in an indoor sports arena, the speaker’s podium at the congress was flanked by giant television screens, infusing the event with Western-style glitziness heretofore unseen in Armenia. Delegates, as widely expected, anointed Prime Minister Sarkisian as President Robert Kocharian’s would-be successor. First, Sarkisian was elected as party president, a position that has been vacant since the death of his predecessor Andranik Margarian. Then, delegates unanimously backed Sarkisian’s presidential candidacy.

In an attempt to cement the front-runner image in the minds of the electorate, party leaders emphasized the fact that its membership now stands at 135,000, up from roughly 25,000 as recently as 2005. According to a report presented by Tigran Torosian, a party vice president and chairman of the National Assembly, the Republican Party enjoys a hammer-lock on local political power, with 65 percent of local administrative posts being held by its members. On the national level, the party has an outright majority in parliament. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Sarkisian, speaking at the conference, cast himself as the guardian of continuity, and the candidate best able to defend Armenia’s interests in the international arena. Referring to the ongoing negotiations on a Nagorno-Karabakh peace settlement, one of the country’s top foreign policy priorities, Sarkisian said that, if elected, his administration will “never allow Azerbaijan and Turkey to impose their will on us.”

Despite enjoying preponderance of influence over Armenia’s political process, party leaders are evidently concerned about Ter-Petrosian’s entry into the race. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Torosian devoted a considerable portion of his report to bashing Ter-Petrosian, warning about the danger of “revanchism.”

[…]

Ter-Petrosian, meanwhile, continues to campaign. At a November 3 appearance, Ter-Petrosian said that, if elected, he would seek to cooperate with the current, Republican Party-dominated parliamentary majority, adding that he would work with any prime minister than the legislature nominates, except “the current one.”

I think the unfolding race is going to get very messy indeed. Some are worried that it might even get violent.

Unfortunately, rather than make that decision on the basis of policies and issues, they instead say they’ll do so because they “hate Serzh.” Some add, “the Karabakh clan” i.e. Kocharian and Serzh.

Interestingly, a lot of these people are young and educated Armenians which is quite a precedent for Armenia. Usually such people either choose not to vote or reluctantly support the incumbent as in 2003 because they see no alternative in the opposition.

If only for this reason, Levon Ter Petrosian should answer his critics to show that he’s not worried about addressing that period of his rule. Moreover, as the pro-government media will bring such topics up more and more, it would be politically wise for him to do so.

And if he were able to successfully rebut such criticism and allegations I think he’d stand a chance of winning more supporters too. On the other hand, the opposition vote is going to be split unless it unites.