Pashinyan loses confidence of Armenian citizens

By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The rapid rise of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s rating during the velvet revolution has turned a past page.

Armen Badalyan, a political consultant, told local media that the recently published information about Pashinyan’s rating is credible. This information coincides with the laws that arise during a sharp change of power, he said.

Armenian PM’s rating declined to  31 percent from its record at 92 percent in May 2018, 81 percent in September 2018, 70 percent in December 2018, 52 percent in February 2019, and in May 2019, according to the published data.

So, the rating of the "revolutionary leader" started falling in 2018. The situation became irreversible when almost no one came to block the buildings of the courts at the Pashinyan’s call after the action on May 20.

The Armenian government categorically disagrees with the fall of Pashinyan’s rating, arguing that people's support for his power is only getting stronger. However, the numbers show that the Armenian authorities’ opinion is erroneous.

The dynamic of the Armenian PM’s rating indicates that in the near future ordinary citizens of Armenia will fill the streets of the capital and other cities in order to express their distrust to Pashinyan and remind of those promises that he did not fulfill.

The situation in the Armenian political field is developing at an unprecedented rate, the social situation is getting worse every day, the widespread reduction of jobs, including in the army, the rise in prices for essential products, the increase in the number of unemployed, the exacerbation of the criminal situation contribute to the fate of Pashinyan the same as Serzh Sargsyan, who was eventually forced to resign.

At the same time, the International Republican Institute, which guides politicians to be responsive to citizens, and motivates people to engage in the political process, recently conducted a social survey on the influence of Armenian citizens on government decisions. Although as many as 76 percent of respondents gave a positive answer to the question in 2018, this year they made up only 53 percent. So, there's a lot job for the Armenian government to do.

In order to save his falling rating somehow, Pashinyan told at the event of Children of Armenia Charitable Fund how to solve demographic problems in Armenia.

He said that the industrial development of Armenia was recorded when the country was part of the Soviet Union; therefore, the Armenian government should turn today the country from an agricultural into an industrial one.

However, the presentation of Armenia's economic future with references to the Soviet past seems to be a kind of science fiction. Armenia’s economic success is a thing of the past, and today it’s hardly correct to recall the irreplaceable loss.

Statistics show that  exports to the EU countries, in particular, mining industry products, showed constant decrease every month in 2019. So, proclaiming the priority of industry development against the background of its obvious degradation is really strange.

Thus, Pashinyan should look for other ways to increase his rating, as the current realities will hardly allow him to raise popularity among people.