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bne November 2019 Eurasia I 47
Pashinian lately hosted leaders of the member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union at a summit in Yerevan. They included Vladimir Putin, left.
Pashinian allies lament slow pace of change in the new Armenia
Those dramatic changes, however, will inevitably require painful compromise. “For Nikol, you often hear this, it’s an ambition to be ‘first,’ ‘unprecedented,’ ‘never before me,’ to have this historical role,” the official added. “You can hear it in his speeches and the ways he address- es MPs. ‘We are the first, we’re unprec- edented, there is no democracy like this in the world, the rest of the world should learn from us,’ and so on. This vanity
is another incentive for gaining power. And that makes things difficult, because if you want reforms you need to do unpopular things, unfortunately.”
The paralysis is exacerbated by the top- heavy nature of Armenia’s new leader- ship. Pashinian trusts only a small circle of allies, mostly those from his political party, Civil Contract, and those who were active in the protests that eventu- ally brought him to power.
“The whole revolution was built around Pashinian’s brand,” said one Western diplomat in Yerevan, speaking on condi- tion of anonymity. “He’s very suspicious of those who didn’t march with him in the revolution and came on later. That impacts how much trust and communi- cation there is between Pashinian and some of his ministries.”
“His focus on his popularity does cause some cautiousness on his part,” the diplomat continued. “And not just on Pashinyan’s part, the people who work for him in the ministries and in his inner circle don’t necessarily feel empowered the way that they should to implement Pashinian’s vision because they’re not always confident that they have direc- tion from Pashinian.”
Crowd-pleaser
One key example is judiciary reform. Entering office, Pashinian placed
a high priority on cleaning up the judi- cial system, filled with appointees from the former government, and on address- ing the corruption and human rights violations committed by the former authorities. But that reform languished under Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian, who was an experienced and respected civil rights activist, but from another opposition party, Hanrapetutyun.
Eurasianet
In August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced that
a long-debated gold mine project would, after much deliberation, go ahead. But following an outcry by envi- ronmentalists, Pashinian two weeks later walked back the announcement, and the fate of the mine is still up in the air.
In July, the government announced that it intended to ratify the Istanbul Conven- tion, an international agreement aimed at protecting women from domestic violence. But after social conservatives, including the influential church, vocally objected, the government quietly shelved ratification. Its fate, too, is unclear.
Despite coming to power last year on the wave of a self-styled “revolution,” Armenia’s new government has since then been surprisingly cautious in its policy-making. Government support- ers complain that the new authorities appear unable to make decisive moves, while promised legislative reforms in the judiciary, taxation, and other spheres have come far more slowly than expected.
Pashinian is likely the most popular leader in Armenia’s recent history, with Armenians from all walks of life respond- ing enthusiastically to his promise to rid the country of the rot he inherited from a succession of corrupt, authoritarian governments. But that popular mandate is a double-edged sword, as Pashinian has been reluctant to use it to implement potentially painful reforms.
“Most of all he is concerned about his popularity and a lot of the shortcom- ings that you see happen because of that preoccupation,” said one government ministry official, speaking to Eurasianet on condition of anonymity. “He gets cold feet about difficult issues that the public will not support.”
“This fear of making mistakes, the fear of losing popularity is very strong,” one NGO official who supports the new government told Eurasianet. “One of the biggest concerns that people have is that reforms are very slow. People voted for this government because of this revolu- tionary nature and people are waiting for dramatic changes to take place.”
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