Armenia`s main problem is not threat of external interference, but  crisis of domestic political legitimacy - expert

ArmInfo. Armenia's main problem is not the threat of external interference, but a crisis of domestic political legitimacy. This opinion was expressed on Facebook by political scientist Suren Surenyants, leader of the Democratic Alternative party, in response to reports that Armenia has requested  a hybrid rapid response team from the EU "to counter Russia ahead of the parliamentary elections in Armenia scheduled for June 7, 2026."

As Surenyants noted, a substantive analysis shows that this is a case  of electoral manipulation. He asserted that Armenian Foreign Minister  Ararat Mirzoyan's official request to the European Union to send a  "hybrid rapid response team" to Yerevan already alters the logic of  the electoral process. "Essentially, an external entity is invited to  participate in shaping and monitoring the electoral environment at  the direct request of the current government. The key problem with  this approach is the politicization of the concept of  'disinformation.' In practice, it becomes a tool for restricting  narratives politically undesirable to the government, rather than a  means of combating false information. When the government and a  foreign partner jointly decide which statements are considered  dangerous, elections cease to be a competition of free ideas and  become a controlled information environment," the party leader  explained.

The political scientist recalled that a similar model has already  been used in Moldova and Brussels, noting that it is a model in which  the content of elections is pre-managed. "That is, the government  identifies itself with 'democracy,' while the opposition or  alternative political rhetoric is automatically presented as the  result of external influence. Voters cease to be seen as independent  political actors and are perceived as a threat from which they  themselves must be protected. It is no coincidence that this approach  has been criticized within the West itself," the political scientist  noted.

Sureniants recalled that even US Vice President J.D. Vance noted at  the Munich Security Conference last year that control of the media  and technocratic management of the electoral process in the name of  democracy lead not to the protection of democracy, but to its  destruction. "In Armenia's case, the problem is not the threat of  external interference, but a crisis of domestic political legitimacy.  This crisis is not resolved by external 'rapid response teams.' On  the contrary, such interventions deepen public mistrust and present  election results as the result of foreign political patronage. If  constant external intervention is necessary to organize elections,  can they still be considered free elections in a sovereign state?"  the political scientist concluded.

Recall that Radio Liberty previously reported that it had obtained a  letter from Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to Brussels, in  which he "requested that a rapid response team be sent to Yerevan to  counter Kremlin disinformation and Russian interference in the  parliamentary elections in Armenia, and then, perhaps, a more  permanent civilian mission." In this regard, it was recalled that the  EU sent a similar team of approximately 20 people to Chisinau during  last year's parliamentary elections "to help the Moldovan authorities  identify and counter disinformation emanating from Russia on social  media." It should be added that the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas,  had previously announced the allocation of EUR 15mln to Armenia to  "counter Russian propaganda."