Pashinyan: Election frauds and suppressing the press freedom are in the past

Speaking at the Third Armenian Forum for Democracy, Nikol Pashinyan said that tangible positive results have also been recorded in terms of freedom of gatherings of political forces or civil society or ensuring access to certain places for holding rallies.

“There were places, even outdoors, where it was not so easy, if not impossible, to hold a rally or gathering, not to mention renting halls in hotels or other places to hold political events. Or, for example, repression of freedom of the press, I think this is also a topic that, in fact, is in the past,” the Prime Minister said.

He also referred to the challenges of strengthening democracy, where, he said, there is still work to be done.

“Of course, it is not the case that we have achieved the perfection of democracy in Armenia or that we are satisfied with the quality of democracy we have. In particular, in my opinion, elections at local levels are not sufficiently politicized, civilianized and communitized. In other words, the perception of the elections that we have at the all-national level is not recorded at the local level.

The standard of use of force by law enforcement officers is not defined in the Republic of Armenia, which is obviously another challenge. What can be done to expand our understanding of the scope of human rights protection?

What should be done so that in the absence of systemic corruption, corruption itself does not form alternative systems? What can be done so that the judicial power or the independence of the judicial power be not only a slogan, not only a program, but also a widely perceived reality by the public, so that the public perceives it not as a title, but as a reality that it deals with every day?

These are issues that are on the agenda not only of the government, but also of non-governmental organizations and, by and large, the public,” the premier said.