Failures of protest movement aggravate crisis of political institutions in Armenia

Arthur Gazinyan, an MP from the "Aiastan" oppositional faction, has announced refusal of his mandate. The faction has excluded any political disagreements, treating Gazinyan's decision as a tactical step. Suren Surenyants, a political analyst, believes that the failures of the protest movement have led to an institutional crisis of political blocs and formats.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since April this year, the oppositional parliamentary factions "Aiastan" and "I have the Honour" have refused to attend parliament sessions; instead, they are holding street protests against the policy of the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan.

Arthur Gazinyan, an oppositional MP from the "Aiastan" faction, has abandoned his mandate. According to his story, the reasons were exclusively political and tactical.

"In the current situation, such a step is the most correct and justified. I can't imagine my future work in parliament, while I can't preserve my MP status; at least it would be dishonest," Mr Gazinyan wrote on July 4 in his Facebook* page.

However, as he stated, he would continue taking part in the protest movement.

Aram Vardevanyan, another MP from the "Aiastan", has treated Ghazinyan's decision as tactical. According to his version, there are no political disagreements within the "Aiastan" faction.

The fiasco of the oppositional protest movement has led to an institutional crisis of political blocs and formats, Suren Surenyants, a political analyst, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He has noted that one of the manifestations of the institutional crisis is the refusal from MP mandates. According to his story, the "I have the honour" bloc, in particular, ceased to exist after Arthur Vanetsyan had refused from his MP mandate. "If the tendency continues, a parliamentary crisis is not ruled out," the political analyst is confident.

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities of the "Meta" Company (that owns the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) in Russia in connection with its extremist activities.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 4, 2022 at 09:30 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.