Freedom House: Armenia's democracy indicators get worse

The Freedom House human rights organization has published its 2008 report on the progress of democracy in the transitive countries, according to which the aggregate democracy indicator in Armenia went down.

The report marks the lowest progress of Armenia in the issue of real separation of powers. Moreover, according to the report, the parties in power and the top leadership have concentrated the economic and political power in their hands. The merge of political and business elites prevents formation of democratic institutes in the country, and, after election outcomes falsifications, those now in power lack people's trust.

As to the situation with mass media, the report tells that Armenia has managed to reach certain changes in that part of the legislation, which refers to broadcasting licensing and setting up the TV and Radio Broadcasting Commission. However, at the same time, attacks on journalists are still frequent, especially before the 2007 presidential election.

The Freedom House estimates the situation with freedoms in the countries under study by 9 basic parameters, putting marks under seven-point scale, where 1 is the highest and 7 is the lowest score. In 2007, Armenia received 5.5 points for the elections, which was some progress in comparison with 2006 (5.75). The 2008 presidential election will be assessed in the 2009 report.

By a number parameters Armenia looks the same, but by other indicators is became worse. Thus, according to the report, the indicators are as follows: civil society - 3.5 points, independent press - 5.75, democratic state governance - 5.25, local democratic governance - 5.5, independence of judiciary - 5.25 (against 5.0 in the previous report), corruption index - 5.75, and the aggregate democracy index went worse from 5.14 to 5.21 points.

We remind you that in 2007 the Freedom House ranked Armenia in the category of the countries with "constrained (non-free)" press. Armenia was ranked 142nd among 195 countries.