News - Freedom House: National Democratic Governance rating drops in Armenia

The Freedom House international human rights organization has issued its Nations in Transit 2024 annual report, in which it noted a decline in the National Democratic Governance rating in Armenia. "National Democratic Governance rating declined from 2.50 to 2.25 due to the executive’s consolidation of power, the multiyear trend of central authorities overreaching and impeaching opposition mayors, and the lack of transparency in ruling party finances. As a result, Armenia’s Democracy Score declined from 3.11 to 3.07," the aforesaid report states. According to the Freedom House report, compared to the previous two years, “which saw a constitutional crisis, an attempted coup, snap parliamentary elections, long opposition protests, and parliamentary boycotts, Armenian domestic politics in 2023 were more stable, with political activities concentrated mostly in the National Assembly. Armenia continued to make significant reforms touching on the judiciary, anticorruption efforts, territorial administration, education, and the drafting of constitutional changes.” At the same time, Freedom House notes marked polarization in the political sphere of Armenia. "Armenian politics remain highly polarized between Civil Contract, which has remained in power since the 2018 Velvet Revolution, and the parties and proxies of the prerevolution political elites led by former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. However, this polarization is mainly limited to the core supporters of each group, while the vast majority of the population is politically apathetic and disempowered, as demonstrated by polls and low electoral turnout. With the backdrop of an inactive, disorganized parliamentary opposition and indications that Civil Contract’s once-unchallenged popularity has now declined, Pashinyan’s party has begun focusing on consolidating power at the level of Armenia’s marzes (regions) by reinforcing regional party structures and attempting to regain control of communities where it had previously lost elections,” says the Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2024 report.