Armenia`s premier afraid of debating with Edmon Marukyan

ArmInfo.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is afraid to engage in discussions with the leader of the Bright Armenia party Edmon Marukyan, because populism will no  longer save him. A similar point of view is shared by the  representative of the Bright Armenia party, former member of the  National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Gevorg Gorgisyan.

According to him, the issue of public debate culture has recently  reappeared on Armenia's political agenda.  This time, the discussions  are focused on possible debates between Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan and oppositionist Edmon Marukyan. According to the  representative of the Bright Armenia party, these are the debates  that Nikol Pashinyan is afraid of.

"Nikol Pashinyan is afraid to debate with Edmond Marukyan because he  will not be able to move the topic to the plane of "robber-traitor,  you are a Turk", and he has nothing to say in a substantive  discussion," Gorgisyan noted. According to him, the current prime  minister can defeat former presidents if he discusses the mistakes of  the past. "He can win the debate with former presidents and, against  their background, he can even be considered a desirable candidate for  citizens. However, in the event of competition with Marukyan, he will  lose all his trump cards, and populism will no longer save him," the  politician adds.

Gorgisyan is also confident that an open discussion with Marukyan  could have serious consequences for Pashinyan's political reputation.  "And if the impeachment process begins, he will have to debate  Marukyan for more than two hours. And even if the process does not  lead to a change of prime minister, it will demonstrate the emptiness  of the political system created by Pashinyan," he noted.

The politician noted that the political opposition is confident in  the strength of its candidate, they testify to the fact that public  debates can become a tool for transforming political culture,  especially in conditions when society expects reasoned discussions in  the political arena, and not loud slogans. "It will be interesting to  see whether the prime minister will respond to this challenge and  agree to honest and public debates - a format in which populist  language is no longer an effective tool," Gevorg Gorgisyan  emphasized.

On May 16, the leader of the Bright Armenia party, Edmon Marukyan,  agreed to nominate his candidacy for the Prime Minister of the  Republic of Armenia from the opposition. According to the current  legislation, the impeachment process of Nikol Pashinyan must begin if  there is a candidate for the head of government. The process is  intended to be initiated by two MPs of the National Assembly  representing the United National Constitutional Party (UNCP) - Hovik  Agazaryan and Hakob Aslanyan. To start it, 36 signatures of MPs are  needed. Currently, there are 34 MPs from the opposition in the  parliament. If we take into account Agazaryan and Aslanyan, then we  will get the same 36 MPs.