“We would like to ask you to vote for Serzh Sargsyan – the life is getting better and he is nice.”

The head of the Hanrapetakan (Republican) Hospital in Yerevan told a patient who happens to be my friend and an avid reader of this blog.  Serzh Sargsyan is Armenia’s prime minister; the candidate that most people think will become Armenia’s next president at any price: and apparently at the price of pushing government doctors to advocate for him during treatment of patients.

After my friend told the Hanrapetakan Hosptial doctor that he wasn’t seeing her to get political advise, his next appointment wasn’t as smooth as the previous ones.  The doctor was quite angry at him during the next visit.  

“Another story happened in a local periodical office,” tells my friend from Yerevan. “The head of the office
asked me whether if i was going to vote for Serzh Sargsyan and I said no, I will vote for anyone but him… The boss was ready to eat me for my comment.”

And that’s not all.  He says that he can’t even write everything he thinks to me because Internet communication is being monitored in Armenia. “I can’t express my true opinion without worrying about my future.”

And this comes from someone who has repatriated to Armenia after having left it as a child.  From someone who does more for Armenia – like most citizens – than Serzh Sargsyans or Levon Ter Petrosyans.

My friend’s letter gave me one feeling – to want to move to Armenia. Why? Because there is so much that needs to be changed there.