The daunting reality that the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) was able to secure a “stable majority” (54 seats out of 101) in parliament by winning 49 percent of cast votes on April 2 still haunts many in Armenia. What in hindsight seems to have been a very predictable victory, has left a bad aftertaste for three reasons. First, a party that has so poorly managed the country for fifteen years will now be in a position to lead again for at least another five years. Second, what appears to have been a clean vote was manipulated through abuse of administrative resources of the state. Third and most importantly is the widespread sense of apathy in society to cope with the current reality.

Smirks and cynical jokes made after the elections under the zeitgeist that things were bound to happen this way, underscore the trauma these elections have caused for so many. Indeed, after the revelation that 114 school and kindergarten headmasters were actively involved in enlisting people to vote for the RPA, the reaction from political parties and civil society was vocal but in practice very timid. Similarly, when an audiotape mysteriously surfaced a week after the elections, putting the SAS group under the spotlight for coercing its employees to vote for their patron Artak Sargsyan, the reaction from both the opposition and civil society was confined to social platforms.

To be sure, both cases have provided sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation. The first case is direct abuse of administrative resources, while the second case is an indirect one. Put simply, the state has the responsibility to ensure that its citizens are not exploited and enjoy freedom to pursue their political preferences. So, what can explain the general indifference in society even after such cases are exposed? The irony is that now the school directors are taking the Union of Informed Citizens (UIC), the organization that released the audio recordings, to court for defamation.