How and by what criteria are people appointed to positions in Armenia? The “official” formulation sounds like this: members of a political team are set, that is, presumably, people who share the “ideals” of that team. The real reason is also known: the most important thing is to be loyal to the first person. In all cases, “being a member of a political team” sounds solid and convincing if we talk about ministers. Moreover, fortunately, the two deputy prime ministers or the current minister of justice are not perceived as members of the political team because they are not forced to voice the government’s propaganda theses about the “formers.”
On the other hand, the Defender of Human Rights, the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, and the Constitutional Court judge SHOULD NOT be a member of the political team. These are positions that require complete political neutrality. The former subordinate of the prime minister and the former deputy of the ruling faction cannot be impartial by organizing elections at different levels. The SJC Chairman (Supreme Judicial Council), who has a grudge against the “formers” and has given many speeches on this issue, cannot make impartial decisions about terminating the powers of judges. A lawyer who is a party to a political case (“March 1”) cannot be a full judge of the CC (Constitutional Court).
Any expert in state law will confirm that these are not political positions. But people are appointed or elected to these positions to perform political tasks. Of course, there may be the opposite “logic” according to which members of the “Civil Contract” party are accepted as chairpersons of the boards of trustees of the universities to… ensure the non-partisan status of the universities. But it is a new dialectic that is not yet accessible to me.
There is also another problem. What position does a person hold when, for example, he leaves the position of the Human Rights Defender? He should not occupy a place in executive power. A human rights defender should not become a police officer, an ombudsperson, a minister of justice, or even more, a detective. It forces one to look back at past activities to see if the person was sincere in their position. In democratic countries, officials and state institutions are highly meticulous in legality and ethics. In authoritarian governments, there is only one watershed for power: “own-not-own.”
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ARAM ABRAHAMIAN
