Democratic reforms is a priority for the Armenian leadership, and the authorities are successfully implementing this task, Eduard Sharmazanov, Spokesman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told Armenian News-NEWS.am as he commented on the report of the PACE monitoring group, which qualifies reforms in Armenia as legal rather than practical.

“I do not share this opinion. Both legal and practical reforms are equally implemented in Armenia. Striking evidence thereof is the amnesty declared by President Serzh Sargsyan, dialogue between the Armenian authorities and political forces, formation of the Public Council,” Sharmazanov said. The guideline for the Armenian authorities in implementing democratic reforms is their being aware that democratic reforms have no alternative rather than international agencies’ requirements, he added.

International agencies must promote reforms in Armenia instead of impeding them by their biased criticism. Sanctions against are unlikely to be approved during PACE discussions of the report this autumn. “If it comes to sanctions, let PACE apply them to the countries using medieval government methods,” Sharmazanov said. Punitive measures prevent establishment of democracy rather than facilitate it, he added.

The PACE monitoring group’s report on Armenia is highly critical of the country. Specifically, the document says that the unsolved March 1, 2008 murders poison the atmosphere in the country. The report also indicates increased social polarization, which is fraught with unrest.