Radicals are satisfied with the lowering of the prime minister's rating against the background of the constitutional debate

The rating of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is decreasing. The results of the survey conducted by the Armenian representative office of the US analytical and consulting company "GALLUP International Association" headquartered in Washington state this.

Aram Navasardyan, the head of "GALLUP" representative office in Armenia, said at a press conference that the level of citizens' trust in the prime minister has decreased. According to the results of the survey, 38.1 percent of the respondents in the survey conducted among 1000 people said that they do not trust Pashinyan at all. Only 15.1 percent of those polled stressed that they fully trust the head of the government. 13.9 percent of the respondents said that they trust Pashinyan, and 28.3 percent said that they do not trust him. 4.6 percent of those who participated in the survey found it difficult to answer.

At the same time, during the survey, opinions of the citizens were studied regarding amendments to the constitution or the adoption of a new basic law, which are the current topics of the political agenda of Armenia. Thus, 38.1 percent of the participants said that the constitution would not be changed, 34.2 percent said that some provisions would be changed, and 13.4 percent were in favor of adopting a new basic law.

It should be noted that the Armenian constitution was adopted by referendum on July 5, 1995. It was amended in November 2005 and December 2015. After the last amendment, the country switched from presidential to parliamentary rule. Serzh Sargsyan, who led the country at that time, had the goal of making amendments. The point was that in 2018, Sargsyan's term as president (second term) was ending. He dreamed of leading the country as the prime minister. Sargsyan, who has no equal in cunning, approached his goal step by step. In the end, he won the prime minister's chair by beating his fellow party member, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, as they say. But his joy did not last long. On April 17, 2018, Prime Minister "elected" Sargsyan was forced to resign a few days later - on April 23, as a result of the pressure of large masses of people. Pashinyan's supporters, who had already won power, temporarily entrusted the performance of the prime minister's position to Karapetyan. After the completion of certain legal procedures - on May 8, Pashinyan became the prime minister.

In the early days, Nicole's popularity in the country was much higher. Haylar will solve all the problems accumulated during the more than 20 years that the "Karabakh clan" ruled the country - corruption and bribery, the plundering of the country's natural resources, economic stagnation, arbitrariness in the judicial system, the tyranny of the army, as well as the Karabakh issue with one "magic touch". they looked at it as a force.

However, over time, Armenians realized that they were disappointed. It turned out that Pashinyan does not have the potential to solve all problems. Moreover, because of his position, negotiations with Azerbaijan were interrupted, the Tovuz battles took place in the summer of 2020, and the Second Karabakh war took place in the fall of the same year. In both cases, Armenia suffered a crushing defeat. Mass protests started in Armenia on November 10, 2020. Actions were held not only in the capital Yerevan, but also in other large cities of the country - Gyumri, Vanadzor, Ijevan and Gafan. Finally, Pashinyan announced that the extraordinary parliamentary elections in March 2021 will be held on June 20 of that year. He resigned as prime minister in April, but continued in office until snap elections were held. The "Civil Agreement" party won the election held in June and Nikol Pashinyan was re-elected as Prime Minister of Armenia.

Now, Pashinyan's rating has dropped significantly in his country. The main reason for this is undoubtedly that Armenia's series of failures will continue in 2021-2023, and Azerbaijan will win new victories. It was in 2023 that the territorial integrity of our country was completely ensured as a result of one-day local anti-terrorist measures carried out by the Azerbaijani Army.

One of the other main reasons for the decrease in Pashinyan's rating is his opinion on January 19 that the country needs a new constitution. The constitution refers to the country's declaration of independence adopted in 1990. Territorial claims against Azerbaijan and Turkey found a place there. In an interview on public radio on February 1, Pashinyan called on the people to regulate relations with the declaration of independence. Opponents of the prime minister say that Pashinyan did not put forward this initiative willingly, but that it was implemented at the request of Azerbaijan. Pashinyan does not seem to be backing down on the constitutional issue. The prime minister, who last expressed his views in this direction on February 7, during his speech in the parliament, said: "What does the decision to unify Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia mean? Will we base our policy on this in the future? If so, what kind of world are we talking about? This means that peace is impossible. This discussion has nothing to do with anything else, this is our discussion. We are talking about today, tomorrow, and our future."

Thus, another serious test awaits the Prime Minister of Armenia during the year. The decrease in his rating before this test is useful for the radical revanchist section.

Farid Shafiyev, the head of the Center for the Analysis of International Relations, who answered the question of "XQ" on the subject, said that the representative office of the "GALLUP" company in Armenia is distinguished by its proximity to Levon, the son of former president Robert Kocharyan. Therefore, they are interested in showing the low rating of Pashinyan: "In any case, the low rating of Pashinyan, even if it is true, is probably related to the opinions he expressed about the new constitution. I think this could be the reason."

Our interviewer noted that the lowering of Pashinyan's rating is not positive for us: "Actually, changing the constitution is our demand. The declaration of independence contains provisions related to Karabakh. It is impossible to sign a peace agreement during their stay."

Fuad Chiragov, deputy director of the South Caucasus Research Center, political scientist, said in his statement to our newspaper that in general, after the defeat in the Patriotic War, trust in Pashinyan was seriously damaged. But Nikol was lucky in two matters and they saved him: "Firstly, despite the defeat, the population of Armenia hates the representatives of the former criminal "Karabakh clan" more and does not want them to come to power again. This was also shown by the results of the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Armenia in 2021. The second point of Pashinyan's luck is related to the absence of an alternative political leader and political platform in the political spectrum of Armenia. That is why most of the population of Armenia is currently dissatisfied with everyone and does not actively support any political group. In other words, it is apolitical."

F. Chiragov noted that during the past period there were those who wanted to present themselves as an alternative political figure with the support of some countries, but none of them could gain success and the support of the population: "This moment also serves the interests of Pashinyan. That is, Pashinyan is interested in maintaining the current situation and not participating in the electoral process for those who are dissatisfied with it. Due to the low turnout in the elections, Pashinyan can use administrative resources to change the results in his favor. The mayoral elections in Yerevan in September of last year clearly showed this.

At the same time, recent polls show that confidence in Pashinyan is decreasing. This is natural. After all the revolutionary euphoria, love for those who come from the street is replaced by hatred after a while. This trend will continue. However, when discontent reaches a climax and an alternative political figure emerges, Pashinyan's rule may be threatened. So far, there is no such figure. Although dissatisfaction is already increasing, the possibility of the appearance of that figure is increasing."

Political scientist Ilyas Huseynov said that no matter how controversial a figure Pashinyan is, Armenian public opinion has high trust and confidence in him. According to him, even though Pashinyan was defeated in the war, the people gave him a new mandate in the extraordinary parliamentary elections: "However, Pashinyan won because his main opponent was the representatives of the "Karabakh clan" - Serzh Sargsyan, Robert Kocharyan and the representatives of the "Dashnaksutyun" party.

As a rule, they also embody the past, they always talk about some "victories", some "invincible army". The Armenian people gave Pashinyan a "green light" to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Let him choose sustainable peace, let him take steps for strengthening peace. Armenian society knows well that war, losses and bloodshed are not the way out. Instead of calling the people to come to terms with reality, Pashinyan paid serious attention to the strengthening of Armenia, the strengthening of its international positions, as well as the purchase of weapons. He invited the paramilitary mission of the European Union to the country, opened the way for a geopolitical conflict, bought weapons and ammunition from France and India."

I. Huseynov noted that, no matter how peaceful Pashinyan creates the impression of a peaceful prime minister, the Armenian people understand well that the steps taken by him have dragged the country into conflict. Therefore, confidence in Pashinyan has been seriously shaken. Nicole needs to take seriously the survey that shows her trust is declining and take real steps towards peace.

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