The upcoming elections may become not a battle of ideologies, but merely a process of reproducing power. This statement was made by political strategist Armen Badalyan.
In his view, the positions of the current government have significantly weakened, increasing the likelihood of employing methods far from democratic standards, including imposing restrictions on opposition forces.
“A certain announcement of actions planned for the pre-election period was made during the Prime Minister’s speech at PACE. In particular, he noted that the sources of funding for several political parties in Armenia remain unknown, and some media outlets receive foreign funding and engage in propaganda at the behest of foreign entities,” Badalyan emphasized.
The expert notes that this could lead to restrictions on the participation of certain parties in the elections or their outright ban, allowing the ruling force to neutralize its strongest competitors. Among such forces, he specifically pointed to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the force under the ideological leadership of Samvel Karapetyan. Additionally, under the pretext of inspections, the activities of certain media outlets could be temporarily suspended, creating conditions for one-sided influence on voters.