Although it is written in our Constitution that Armenia is a democratic nation, and that is frequently repeated from some of the highest podiums, the values created by democracy have not entered our bloodstream, so to speak, and they did not form a basis in our political and civil culture. For example, the majority of our citizens believe that the “king” can remove and appoint judges, village leaders, and mayors. The “king” and his advisors read the Constitution, of course, but they are well aware of the legal perspectives of this society, so they take advantage of this situation and try to use the “monarchy” model, while the “people” allegedly gave them the mandate.
In fact, it was not the people but the majority of citizens who took part in the elections (54%) who gave the Civil Contract party a mandate to form a government, no more. These citizens (who, by the way, are only 26% of eligible voters) did not give Pashinyan any “sword” of justice. Justice is administered by the judiciary, which in democracies should be independent, autonomous, and have nothing to do with the executive branch. No one gave a mandate to anyone to push pro-Civil Contract pocket judges into the judiciary (including the Supreme Judicial Council). You will ask, how was it done over the past 27 years? My answer is that what happened over the past 27 years was exactly what they want to do again now, probably regretting that the courts have been given relative independence by law.
The governor is not the secretary of the regional committee, and the village leader is not the head of the kolkhoz (which were elected only formally), and no vertical relations should be established between them. It is illegal and arbitrary to appeal to the village leaders with the demand to “leave because you supported another political force in the elections.” Our political system is multi-party, and any citizen, including the village leader, has the right to support the force they sympathize with. In the same way, he arbitrarily addressed the mayor of Yerevan and said, “Let him go, because you did not work for us during the elections.” Working for someone is not part of the mayor’s mandate. And vice versa; their responsibilities include, in particular, the dismantling of illegal structures. This, I think, is one of the reasons for the Yerevan mayor-Civil Contract conflict. As Civil Contract, on the one hand, has “officially” become closer to business owners, making them deputies, and on the other hand, it owes its election to the local “party people” (among whom there are small business owners), so the issue of illegal buildings has acquired political significance. Just like it has for 27 years.
Then they say there is no going back to the past.
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Aram Abrahamyan
