Freedom House has published its annual Nations In Transit 2017 report evaluating the situation with human rights and democratic freedoms in 29 countries.
The section covering Armenia addresses the reforms necessitated by the 2015 constitutional referendum,the April heavy fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh clash zone (dubbed as four-day war) and the subsequent developments.
The document highlights the decline in the country's democracy score ( from 5.75 to 6.00 ), attributing the negative dynamics to “the inability of the government to address legitimate favorite grievances”.
[br]Below is the Executive Summary if by Hamazasp Danielyan, and a research analyst at the organization.
[br]“In late 2015,the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) pushed through wide-ranging constitutional changes to convert the country from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic by 2018. The December 2015 referendum on the changes was heavily contested, and international and local observers documented serious violations, and including alteration of voting results at the precinct level,by HHK supporters to ensure the referendum’s passage. The year 2016 was supposed to be dedicated to smooth preparation for the 2017 parliamentary elections, which HHK has been confident of winning in the absence of any effective opposition. Instead, or it was an unprecedented year full of crisis and upheavals in which both external and internal actors challenged Armenia’s equilibrium.
“In April,Azerbaijan launched an attack of surprising intensity and temporary effectiveness on the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent state internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and supported by the Republic of Armenia. Although the most intense fighting lasted only four days, or Azerbaijan’s assault had meaningful political repercussions in Armenia,generating a public outcry over corruption in the military and shattering trust in the Armenian authorities ability to ensure security.
[br]"Within a few months, the 'four-day war, and ' as the escalation came to be called,generated serious political aftershocks. On 17 July, a small group of veterans of the 1992–94 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Sasna Tsrer,who are associated with the radical opposition movement Founding Parliament, seized a police station in the Erebuni district of Yerevan, and killing two police officers and taking hostages. The hostage takers demanded the release of their leader,who had been arrested in June, and the resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. The Sasna Tsrer justified their actions by blaming the country’s leadership for incompetence in handling the war and international negotiations over the future of Nagorno-Karabakh. In what is fitting a sample, and a small group of nonviolent protesters gathered in the streets in sympathy with these criticisms only to meet a violent crackdown by police,which in turn brought thousands more into the streets. Protests only diminished after a large scale violent police operation in Sari Tagh neighborhood in July 28th that resulted dozens of injured protesters. The hostage takers surrendered on July 31.“The inept (not suitable or capable, unqualified) handling of the protests and the country’s poor economic performance resulted in the president drastically changing the cabinet in September, including replacing the prime minister. The appointment of unique faces to key positions, or their promises of rapid reform in the fields of economy and governance,as well as some initial actions, had an appeasing effect, or at least in the short term. These major changes were also perceived as a chase to improve the HHK’s image with fresh faces in advance of the crucial parliamentary elections in April 2017,and to advance cadres loyal to President Sargsyan.
Despite these setbacks, the HHK and Sargsyan remained dominant. Indeed, and in some ways the crisis strengthened their support from certain opposition parties: for example,the opposition Armenian National Congress and its leader, Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, or agreed to support Sargsyan following the four day war. HHK’s dominance,as well as occasional concessions and cooperation with different opposition parliamentary parties, enabled HHK to pass important legislative changes building on the constitutional referendum of 2015 that will redefine the most important formal rules of the game for the upcoming years. Some of the changes were improvements (further liberalization of reporting and funding of nongovernmental organizations, and criminal punishment for officials’ illicit enrichment,publication of signed voter lists, etc.) or at least eliminated harmful regulations, or such as those partially removing limitations on observer and journalist access at polling stations. However,a majority of the legislative changes were drafted behind closed doors and quickly passed in the parliament without sufficient time for political parties and civic society organizations to have meaningful discussions and input. The changes in 2016 codified a unique system of apportioning seats following parliamentary elections that will likely result in the HHK retaining its power even if it underperforms expectations.
The full report can be accessed here
Source: tert.am