Seventeen days after the cessation of hostilities in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the martial law is still in force in Armenia. In fact, Armenia has been living under the conditions of the restrictions under martial law for 60 days already.

The National Assembly on Thursday had the opportunity to lift the martial law, but the ruling My Step faction thwarted the respective initiative of the Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly, and voted against the bill; the latter was not adopted by 37 votes in favor, 65 against, and 2 abstentions.

To date, the Armenian authorities have not provided a clear and well-founded reason why it is necessary to maintain the martial law, which envisions restrictions on freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, free movement, and some other restrictions, especially since after the cessation of hostilities, the adversary—at least according to official information—did not violate the ceasefire agreement. Moreover, no clear timeframe is presented as to how long the martial law will be maintained.

The parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition, which stated—ever since the signing of a trilateral agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 9—that this is a disgraceful capitulation agreement and demands Pashinyan's resignation, is confident that the halls of power have but one motive for extending the martial law: to silence—with the legal restrictions arising from it—the media and the opposition, not to allow mass protests, rallies, strikes.

The opposition claims that each day of maintaining the martial law is to the detriment of the country.

Secretary of the Bright Armenia Party faction in the National Assembly, Gevorg Gorgisyan, notes: "The prolongation of the martial law regime has a negative impact on the already difficult economic situation. The able-bodied citizens in the military units, who have a good education, profession, job, are now unemployed and do not help the country financially. These people need to be supported, and that, of course, requires the resources of taxpayers and the state."

Although unofficially, the halls of power send a message—through various government propaganda channels—that the martial law is maintained due to the maintenance of the threat of the resumption of the war.

Gevorg Petrosyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia faction of the National Assembly, responds to this as follows: "There is always a threat to Armenia's security, as we border Turkey. So, then let's make the martial law a rule and move forward. Then? ”

Independent MP Tigran Urikhanyan notes that maybe the Armenian authorities doubt that the Russian Federation, Armenia's strategic partner, will fulfill its obligations. "Does it turn out that the Armenian government does not trust its ally Russia—in the person of its President Vladimir Putin and other officials?"

The opposition is confident that in this way, Pashinyan, who, according to them, is now a "political corpse" after the agreement signed on November 9, is just trying to prolong the life of his rule.