Report: Armenia nearing threshold of consolidated authoritarian regime

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia falls near the threshold for designation as a consolidated authoritarian regime in the Nations in Transit report prepared by the Freedom House.

However, the report said, Armenia retains a measure of political pluralism that prevents total domination by one person or group.

The Nations in Transition report covers 29 postcommunist countries of the former Soviet Union and in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

In the report, Armenia is the only country to be identified as a semi-consolidated authoritarian regime, with Belarus, Russia and Azerbaijan characterized as consolidated authoritarian regimes.

Commenting on the referendum on constitutional amendments held back in 2015, the report suggests that those overhauls are seen as a way for president Serzh Sargsyan to preserve his power (and assets).

“In Armenia, aside from the shift of powers to the parliament, the most significant provision of the revised constitution was a new system for ensuring a “stable majority” following elections. This procedure grants extra seats to the party that wins a plurality in the general elections, strengthening its hand in government formation,” the report says.

“The parliamentary system is simply a mechanism for ensuring that the RPA will remain in power for the foreseeable future.”

Armenia’s democracy score declined from 5.36 to 5.39 in a scale of 1-7 (1=most democratic, 7=least democratic).

In the meantime, Azerbaijan’s democracy score declined from 6.86 to 6.93, Russia’s declined from 6.50 to 6.57, while Georgia’s remained unchanged at 4.61.