Monday, April 27 2020 12:43

ArmInfo.The revolution in Armenia was the result of the impossibility to further abide by corrupt, ineffective governance, the outrage of the oligarchy, the  environment of permissiveness and, most importantly, the illegitimacy  of the authorities. The Head of the Analytical Centre on  Globalization and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan expressed a  similar opinion ArmInfo.

"As an active participant in the events of April 2018, I did not  regret it at all, I'm not disappointed. In general, the change of  power has become a great progress for our society, the country, a  step forward. Nevertheless, we must all be aware that the revolution  did not end by forming a legitimate parliament and, accordingly, the  government. It is necessary to continue it. But, as I understand it,  Nikol Pashinyan decided to go further along a softer path, "he said. 

"As a result, the Constitution, the Electoral Code remained the same.  And the election of the new government was based on the Electoral  Code written by the former government. And as a result of fair,  transparent elections, we again received the hegemonic party in  parliament. Thus, the revolution did not continue, lustration did not  happen, political "formers" were not given estimates, but we actually  got a political system that practically does not differ from the  previous one, "the political scientist noted.

As a result, all the rules of the game, according to Grigoryan, are  dictated by one pro-Pashinyan political force, which, oddly enough at  first glance, hinders Pashinyan himself. As a result, having  two-thirds of the seats in parliament, the prime minister failed to  amend the Constitution. His own party was inactive, expecting actions  in this direction from him. According to the political scientist,  there is nothing surprising in creating such a situation. It is  implied by the Constitution, written by the "former authorities" in  order to further strengthen the authoritarian regime through the  creation of the institution of a super prime. 

However, the new Prime Minister Pashinyan does not use the  superpowers that the Constitution gives him.  Meanwhile, as the old  system awaits the orders given by a person with superpowers. That is  why, according to Grigoryan, any issue moves forward only when the  process is personally controlled by the prime minister. In all other  areas, the situation is determined by a slow government system, which  Pashinyan himself evaluates day by day.

"Thus, the launched liberalization of the economy, greater freedom of  speech, greater freedom of citizens are not accompanied by the  effective functioning of the state apparatus due to the lack of  proper institutionalization. The most striking example is the fight  against corruption. Criminal cases have been instituted against  former senior officials, many have been detained, many escaped. At  the same time, there is not a single final court verdict, there is  not a single completed case, the reason is slow institutional  reforms, slowed down even more by the coronavirus.  All these factors  lead to an obvious fall in Nikol Pashinyan's rating, " Grigoryan  concluded.