EUCACIS in Brief No. 10: Magda Arsenyan — New Challenges of Armenian Parliamentarism and Multiparty Democracy
The final achievement of the political struggle of the opposition leaders and civil society actors of the non-violent, velvet and popular revolution in April-May 2018 in Armenia were the early parliamentary elections held on December 9, 2018. According to the public opinion these elections should have been the momentum of democratic reforms. However, the newly elected political authority has made a reverse turn into the past starting a fight against the leaders of previous political elites. This policy endangers the future of democracy and the development of parliamentary culture, as most of the public resources is being consumed on populism, discrediting and political persecution of the previous political elites. Since the “Velvet Revolution”, the creation of “anti-heroes” has become the only successful way towards the maintenance of political legitimacy. Current political processes show that there is a deep abyss between the statements of “velvet movement” and current policy of “Civil contract” party. This hinders the implementation of revolutionary citizenship-centric ideas, of democratization, the transformation of the parliamentary form of government, and of deepening the European integration processes.
EUCACIS in Brief No. 10 can be downloaded here.