Before the Voting Day: The Impact of Patron-Client Relations and Related Violations on Elections in Armenia

Abstract

This article analyses how political forces recruit voters on a large scale using patron-client relations in organizations and residential neighbourhoods in Armenia and outlines the electoral violations often caused by such relations. The contribution also discusses cases of vote-buying not based on long-term ties and outlines citizens' reasons for collaboration. Even if some argue that certain forms of clientelism may have benefits, in this case, authoritarian patron-client relations are detrimental to democracy: citizens who vote from a position of subordination and insecurity or in exchange for particularistic benefits are unable to hold political elites vertically accountable and elect genuine representatives.