Armenia may enter a stage of controlled electoral authoritarianism -  politician

ArmInfo. Armenia may enter a stage of managed electoral authoritarianism. Suren Surenyants, leader of the Democratic Alternative party, wrote in his  Facebook post.

He recalled that during the Government Hour in the National Assembly,  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the political directives for  the most active part of the opposition are coming from abroad. "At  first glance, this may seem like a political assessment, but in  reality, it's a propaganda tool to justify future restrictions on  opposition forces. Pashinyan is gradually shaping a public atmosphere  where the opposition's actions can be portrayed as 'serving foreign  interests,' thus paving the way for political filters," Surenyants  noted.

He added that this mechanism is not new and has been actively used in  Moldova with Western support in recent months. "There, the  Constitutional Court banned the activities of an opposition party on  charges of 'supporting Russian influence.' The same ideological  approach is evident in today's Armenia, where the political field is  being purged under the slogan of 'defending democracy'. In fact, the  government is creating a new model where the opposition is no longer  a political counterweight, but a threat that must be 'contained.'  This is not strengthening sovereignty, as they try to portray, but an  institutional erosion of democracy. Armenia is at a critical point:  if these discussions transform into political practice, Armenia may  enter a stage of controlled electoral authoritarianism," the leader  of the Democratic Alternative party emphasized.