Yesterday morning, RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan made quite a scandalous post on his page with the title: “Nikol is one of the most illegitimate leaders in the world. International report”, where it was written:
“New data proving the fact that Armenia is “bankrupt” under the leadership of Nikol Pashinyan were obtained thanks to the British Legatum Prosperity Index research, which was published recently and refers to the indicators of the countries’ well-being in 2023. Indicators count in 12 main directions. Armenia’s position has worsened compared to the 2022 report, and from the 59th position, Armenia has moved to the 61st position. At the same time, it is much more interesting to analyze the current state of Armenia according to the main directions, data and parameters.
And so.
The situation in the field of personal liberties and governance has worsened, it is particularly dire.
- the decline of the political accountability index
- institutional trust in governing bodies
- government efficiency.
These destinations have seen steep declines.
Indicators of government accountability and rule of law are also declining. The following coefficients also testify to the shameful situation in Armenia: - use of torture in the country – 120th place
- political imprisonment – 78th place
- freedom of the press from the government – 109th place
- index of restraint of the executive branch – 102nd place
- institutional trust – 129th place
- trust in the police – 120 150th place
- trust in law enforcement system and courts – 150th place.
Armenia ranks 91st in the world in terms of political terror. I should mention that the research was carried out at the level of 167 countries.
Putting these indicators together, we can state that Armenia under Nikol Pashinyan is not only a bastion of well-being, democracy, and security, but also occupies a shameful position in a number of indicators, especially regarding the government’s activities and freedoms. In Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan’s administration is a total fiasco not only in terms of security, but also governance and freedoms.
As for the index of trust in the government, let me repeat: Nikol Pashinyan’s government ranks 146th among the governments of the world.
And finally the most interesting. Armenia ranks 146 out of 167 according to the “Trust in the National Government” index.
In other words, Nikol is one of the most illegitimate leaders in the world.
HG. This research is another proof that Nikol’s geopolitical patrons can no longer turn a blind eye and hide the failures of his administration.”
Hours after this publication, we received messages from the government, one of which reported that a meeting was held under the leadership of Prime Minister Pashinyan, during which “the evaluations of Armenia in the reports published by international organizations and issues related to the further improvement of the position of our country” were discussed.
“Particularly, the problems published in the reports, current reforms and further actions by the government in various fields, including the fight against corruption, improvement of the business environment, protection of human rights, digitization process, disaster management, cyber security, science and other fields were addressed. It was noted that for the purpose of solving the existing problems, a working group consisting of representatives of the interested departments was formed. Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized the continuous improvement of the image of our country in the international opinion-forming reports, emphasized the need for coordinated substantive work by the departments. The implementation of steps aimed at the continuous improvement of public communication was also highlighted.”
And the second message from the Ministry of Justice. Under the title “GRECO has made progress in Armenia’s performance in the fight against corruption”, where it is stated: “The Council of Europe has officially published the interim report of the CE Group of States Fighting Corruption (GRECO) on the evaluation of the prevention of corruption among RA judges, prosecutors, and deputies.
As a result of large-scale anti-corruption and judicial reforms carried out by the Republic of Armenia, GRECO considers 9 recommendations to be fully implemented instead of the previous 7 recommendations, and the other 9 recommendations are considered to be partially implemented. In particular, GRECO considered positive the implementation of trainings related to the prevention of conflicts of interest and corruption among prosecutors, as well as the introduction of the consulting mechanism on conflict of interests and observance of the rules of conduct in the prosecutor’s office. The steps aimed at clarifying the scope of powers and functions of the Corruption Prevention Commission were also considered progress by GRECO. Referring to the partially implemented instructions, they are related to the instructions given on the activities of the National Assembly deputies and judges, as well as the existing regulations regarding the restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by officials… Referring to the partially implemented instructions, GRECO stressed that the government continues to be active in their implementation take steps. Due to the progress, Armenia has finally come out of the non-compliance process of the GRECO assessment, no longer being considered a country with “generally insufficient” performance, as it was considered in 2015-2019. according to the results of assessments”. as well as the existing regulations regarding restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by officials… Referring to the partially implemented instructions, GRECO stressed that the government continues to take active steps towards their implementation. Due to the progress, Armenia has finally come out of the non-compliance process of the GRECO assessment, no longer being considered a country with “generally insufficient” performance, as it was considered in 2015-2019. according to the results of assessments”. as well as the existing regulations regarding restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by officials… Referring to the partially implemented instructions, GRECO stressed that the government continues to take active steps towards their implementation. Due to the progress, Armenia has finally come out of the non-compliance process of the GRECO assessment, no longer being considered a country with “generally insufficient” performance, as it was considered in 2015-2019. according to the results of assessments”. which was considered 2015-2019. according to the results of assessments”. which was considered 2015-2019. according to the results of assessments”.
We asked Armen Ashotyan to comment on these messages. “Armenia’s positions in various international ratings, from democratic ratings to economic freedom, have been declining during the last years of Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure, which is evidence of a systemic governance crisis. It is not only about the deterioration of the security environment, where Nikol and his team are directly to blame. We are talking about the ratings, in connection with which Nikol Pashinyan likes to talk that democracy is the brand of Armenia, that Armenia was in the top league of democratic countries, etc. Suffice it to mention that in the report of the same “Freedom House” international human rights organization, Armenia experienced a setback in the general evaluations with this year’s report and continues to be classified in a negative sense as a hybrid, among the “ní ryba, ní myaso” countries. Armenia is also in the same classification according to the British think tank Economist Intelligence Unit. Recently, shocking facts related to democracy were included in this year’s report of Amnesty International, related to violence in Armenia, use of disproportionate force, restrictions on freedom of speech. In order to prove that Armenia is retreating not only in terms of security and democratic indicators, but also in terms of economic freedoms, it is enough to get acquainted with this year’s report of The Heritage Foundation. and we will see the recorded regression. Today I published an analysis of the ratings of Armenia by the British Legatum Institute, which refers to the well-being index, which includes economic, social, security, as well as political and democratic indicators, and Armenia’s rating has deteriorated not only in the overall assessment; retreated 2 positions, but also in a number of important directions, simply shameful indicators are recorded, in particular, in terms of political terror, Armenia is 91st among 167 countries, in terms of the use of repression – 120th, dependence of the press on the government – in 109th place, according to the indicator of the compromise of the authorities. In other words, the extent to which the government is limited by judicial and legislative power is the 102nd. trust in the law enforcement system and courts is 150th and the most shameful indicator that proves that he is one of the most illegitimate government leaders in the world, it is trust in the national government in 146th place. Let’s also remember this year’s report of “Transparency” with a shameful indicator for Armenia, that even the Western structures with a “caring and motherly” attitude towards Nikol can no longer turn a blind eye to the shameful manifestations of corruption that exist in Armenia, and let’s also remember that the situation in Armenia has worsened. is also with the recently published World Innovation Index minus 19 points. As for the GRECO report, which they diligently brought forward today, I got acquainted with it a few days ago. The humor is in two things: first, that in the previous assessment, Armenia was insufficiently fulfilling its anti-corruption duties, it was actually published in 2019, when there was a new National Assembly, and it promised an anti-corruption fight under this government, but the National Assembly’s indicators in 2019 were a disgrace. Now, when Nikolenko is happy that we are no longer on the list of countries performing insufficient work, once again the bubble reveals that Armenia is in the top league of democracy or is a bastion. In fact, Armenia is a democratic night bowl that has cracked, and all the stinking excrement of the years of Nikol’s rule is leaking from there. Suppose we didn’t get 2 now, we got 3 according to GRECO’s report, pretending to be the best of democracy and being happy that you didn’t get two, but three, is ridiculous.
Areg Margaryan