Karen Karapetian, with all his merits, is not a politician. Many hoped that he would become, and that the power would be given to him with”peace and tranquility”. I think that Serzh Sargsyan had such a plan too.
Unlike 99 percent of Armenia’s population, I do not think that in the beginning of 2015, the former president was preparing the constitutional amendments exclusively for himself.
But Karen Karapetyan did not “mature” politically, and Serzh Sargsyan had to take a step that caused the citizens’ wrath. Like many top managers, “Gazprom’s” representative looks at the politics and the humanitarian sphere from above, believing that whatever cannot be counted and weighed is “empty lyricism”.
Having such a prime minister in the case of a presidential or semi-presidential system is perhaps acceptable, but in case of prime ministerial system this is a bit questionable.
But even if Karen Karapetyan was a very skilled politician, he could not succeed in the current situation, because it embodies the power that has been in power for at least 15 years, and the active part of the society, especially young people link the prolongation of that power with the stagnation. In fact, all of the attributes of stagnation are there.
The movement led by Nikol Pashinyan is seen as an alternative to the outdated, ineffective state system ignoring the people’s needs. Just as the leaders of governmental propaganda seem to believe that it is possible to continue to propagate in Brezhnev’s “Vremya” style in the age of the Internet, live stream broadcast and social networks, as well as the whole state system is “outdated”, with its leaders, corrupt officials, and unrealistic evaluations. Those MPs who will vote for Karen Karapetyan will vote for that.
And threatening the oppositionists and sending envoys to meet Putin for that purpose, to put it mildly, is irritating.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
