Political analysts treat unification of Armenian opposition as fragile

The actions of the coalitional "Movement to Save Motherland" demanding resignation of the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, are becoming less massive, since the movement has no clear political programme; and no more than five out of 17 parties-coalition members have real influence, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in November 2020, after signing the peace agreement with Azerbaijan, protests began in Armenia demanding resignation of Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who signed the agreement.

The political forces presented in the above coalition are united by one single goal – Nikol Pashinyan's resignation, Armen Badalyan, a political consultant, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on February 3.

In his opinion, if the goal is achieved, the movement will split. "If the Premier resigns, the movement will cease to exist; and each of the political forces will act in the political arena based on its own interests," he has suggested.

"The movement consists [in fact] not of 17 parties, but only four or five. The rest are just formal parties," Stepan Danielyan, a political analyst, has noted.

However, in his opinion, the main problem is not so much in the number of political forces in the movement as the loss of public confidence and the absence of political agenda. "The demand for resignation cannot be political agenda; it is a mechanism for achieving the goal. The problem of political agenda is inherent in both the authorities and the opposition – neither the former nor the latter can formulate an agenda. There is no concept of what the future government's programme will be. The presence of the agenda will allow increasing the social heat," Mr Danielyan has explained.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 4, 2021 at 08:20 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.