People in Armenia and Ukraine don't vote for ideas
Political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan believes that the term "political party" means different things in different countries. In other words, the political party has a different "content" in developed Western countries and a different content in post-Soviet countries. That is why, according to the political scientist, it would be right to give different definitions for the term "political party".
Iskandaryan is getting ready to discuss this during the forum entitled "For the future of democracy" organized by the Council of Europe in Kiev.
In an interview with "A1+", the politician remarked that political parties are not similar in their "essence" in all three republics of the South Caucasus.
"Armenia and Georgia are countries where there is a certain amount of competition between political parties. Azerbaijan was like that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but now it is no longer like that. From this angle, Azerbaijan is much like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan," said Iskandaryan.
Touching upon the upcoming Ukrainian presidential elections, the political scientist mentioned: "The system is almost the same. People in Ukraine vote like the people in Armenia-they vote for the president's position, whether he speaks Russian, Ukrainian, but not for the ideas."
But, according to him, there is an essential difference between Armenia and Ukraine. In general, the strong opposition is in the capital, but in Ukraine, the opposition is also strong outside of Kiev, for instance, in Odessa and Donetsk. The politician takes note that it is hard to picture an opposition party in Vanadzor or Syunik.
