By Hayk Khanumyan #DemocracyWatch – In 2017, I wrote a Facebook post mocking the fact that, in some Armenian communities, a representative of the ruling party was competing against another member of the same party. I suggested that this was exactly how an alternative to one-party, single-candidate elections in the Soviet Union might have developed […]
By Tigran Grigoryan Over the past week, public debate in Armenia has centered on an incident in the village of Shaki in the southern Syunik region. An armed Azerbaijani soldier who had gone AWOL days earlier and crossed the Armenian border ended up, unnoticed, 15 kilometers inside Armenian territory, at a house in Shaki, where […]
By Tigran Grigoryan The practice of initiating criminal proceedings against critics of the ruling party based on their public statements has been one of the important manifestations of democratic backsliding in Armenia in recent years. When the provision criminalizing “grave insult” was decriminalized in 2022 under public pressure, the practice of criminal prosecution for public […]
By Hayk Khanumyan #DemocracyWatch – Following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, law-enforcement agencies increasingly appeared to act on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s metaphorical and often confrontational political rhetoric. In 2018–2019, statements such as “laying someone on the asphalt” and “throwing them against the walls” were followed by highly publicized arrests and displays of force against former officials’ bodyguards […]
By Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – Armenia’s newly re-elected government introduced “spiritual security” as a new policy priority, framing reform of the Armenian Apostolic Church as a national security issue. The agenda is included in its draft five-year action plan, published on August 20, and goes as far as envisaging the removal of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin […]
By Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections were the most geopoliticized in the country’s modern history. All the major external actors involved in the South Caucasus had clear preferences in the race and were actively engaged during the pre-election period in promoting their respective agendas. While Russia supported the opposition through its […]
By Tatevik Ghazaryan #DemocracyWatch – From July 1 to 3, the National Assembly of Armenia, in what was effectively a 24-hour legislative process conducted over two readings and without prior public consultations, adopted amendments to the Electoral Code and the Law on Referendums, making the right to vote conditional on a period of actual residence in Armenia. […]
by Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – On July 6, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, was arrested and taken to the Investigative Committee. During the day, investigative actions were also carried out at companies owned by Tsarukyan. According to the statement released by the Investigative Committee, he faces criminal charges including organizing fraud on an especially large […]
By Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – The year preceding Armenia’s parliamentary elections was marked by a sharp deterioration in democratic standards. The ruling party, leveraging the state institutions under its control, targeted various opponents, instrumentalized law enforcement and the judiciary to serve narrow political agendas, and increasingly relied on selective justice. Throughout this period, through the […]
