PreferredYEREVAN. – The social demand for reforms and changes in Armenia is powerful and the status quo is no longer acceptable, Regional Studies Center Director, political analyst Richard Giragosian stated during a press conference on Tuesday.
Giragosian stressed that the authorities need to understand that they have to be more accountable, but the opposition likewise should be accountable.
“The decisions that are made today will impact the generations to come. There was no huge discussion on key matters even during this [presidential] election. This was an insulting [election] campaign [season] for each and every Armenian. This was a battle between individuals, not ideas,” he noted.
The analyst also predicted two possible scenarios as a result of the current post-election situation in the country. First is when the motivation and the initiative are on the side of the opposition, and the pressure put on the authorities will continue. But, at the same time, this is an opportunity also for President Serzh Sargsyan.
“During his second tenure, President Sargsyan has become ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ the last representative of the [Nagorno-]Karabakh elite, and the political change has started. [But] the next political elite [of Armenia], which has not come from Nagorno-Karabakh, will not necessarily be better and more democratic,” he noted.
As per Giragosian, the second scenario is when opposition Heritage Party Chairman Raffi Hovannisian—who is declared runner-up to the winner, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, as a result of the presidential election that was conducted on February 18, but who claims to be the real winner in the vote—would acts as an agent of change. He stressed that both the authorities and the opposition face the challenge of presenting a clear strategy. And the second thing that makes them resemble one another is that both have one common enemy: the oligarchs.
In Richard Giragosian’s words, it is no longer effective to gather thousands at capital city Yerevan’s Liberty Square, but even if the people go home, the initiative will not fade away.
