For some time now, our society has had the opportunity to follow the work of the newly-elected parliament. Although it has not been long, it is enough to get an idea of the political level of the National Assembly. Everything is there except for politics. The political forces in the parliament reflect the mood of our society, yes. In general, it is the mirror of our society. As we often accuse our society of not realizing the difficult situation in Armenia today, the newly-elected parliament not only does not understand the depth of the regionally-important processes, but it also does not have solutions that must be presented to and demanded from the government to provide a solution to this or that problem.
It is a normal competition in the parliament – a torrent of words, or rather bait, to please Facebook users, to win their “loves” and “smiles” and to increase “angry reacts” against political opponents. One remained as a “strong” activist, the other as a “resourceful journalist,” the other as a “talented lawyer,” the other as a “speaker” of everything but saying nothing, the other continued “going live” with the help of Facebook, gathering “likes” while remaining unemployed, being ignored by “money owners” while still not being able to “get money.” The other can be in the category of “how to praise the authorities.” The other is able to “give dirty looks,” the other can “smile cynically,” and so forth…
This is a very favorable parliament for the ruling political force. The leaders of the parliamentary opposition are the main target of the Civil Contract members, and if they discuss any complex issue for the country, they will bring the bar of debate down to the level of “theft.” This is the field in which the ruling political force will defeat the opposition. The latter can already state with confidence that they have lost to the government on this issue.
The parliamentary opposition moves according to the agenda of the ruling political force; they do not manage to dictate their own agenda in the National Assembly, even in directing the discussions on the choice of topics. In the newly-elected National Assembly, of course, there are experienced deputies who expressed clever ideas in the parliaments of the previous convocations, but today we have a completely different political majority that skillfully masters the “art” of manipulating, directing, and turning the arrows of accusation in any other direction.
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The level of the deputies’ questions to each other in the state legislature and the topics of investigating each other are simply ridiculous if we take into account the depth of the problems Armenia is immersed in today. There is a parade of primitivism in the parliament where it seems that the political forces have appeared by luck. What is most painful is that there will be a part of the society that will welcome this primitivism and like it from the point of view of watching and engaging.
The situation, without exaggeration, can be described as a total defeat for a state that is in one of the most difficult stages in its history. It will not be right for the opposition that appeared in parliament to start getting annoyed by fair criticism. Even during the short period of parliamentary work, they have already lost to the ruling majority, which means that they will share the responsibility equally with the government in terms of the failure of vital issues for the state. The burden of being a political minority does not absolve one from political responsibility no matter what level of political power the current parliament has. Only one politician can change the atmosphere if they have knowledge, charisma, and influential speech, regardless of whether they are part of the government or the opposition.
Emma Gabrielyan
