"If I say that the first working day of the new National Assembly caused deep disappointment, it means that I said almost nothing. The most intolerable was the level of political content of the parliamentary discussions, both in the case of the government and the opposition," writes political scientist, DAK President Suren Surenyants, referring to the statements and speeches made at the first session of the newly elected National Assembly. He elaborates.
"I am not particularly surprised by the quality of the government. Since August 2, Armenia has had an illegitimate National Assembly and an illegitimate government. However, the behavior of the parliamentary opposition is more worrying, which in a short period of time has actually "digested" or legitimized this reality in two important episodes. The first is the history of taking mandates from the PAP. Despite the statements made by the deputies of the "Strong Armenia" faction and the "Armenia" alliance at the start of the first session, they are not enough if they do not turn into political behavior. Policy is evaluated not by statements, but by consistent actions. Otherwise, even the harshest statement turns into a formality. The second episode refers to the government's attitude towards the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The constitutional law "Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly" clearly defines that the Catholicos of All Armenians and the President of the Republic have the right to address the opening of the first session. However, for the first time in the history of independent Armenia, His Holiness was absent from the session, because he was not simply invited. It was not a coincidence.
A few days ago, Nikol Pashinyan announced. "I don't know such a Catholicos." In fact, Pashinyan's political caprice was placed above the law and established state tradition. Already this Friday, the Catholicos of All Armenians will stand before the court as an accused. The criminal case of him and six bishops and archbishops will be examined in the Armavir court.
Thus, the government's offensive campaign against the Church enters another phase. Yesterday's events showed that the parliamentary opposition, it seems, is not ready to give an adequate political response to this challenge either. I have always been against giving up parliamentary mandates. However, this does not mean that the opposition should participate in the distribution of positions in the National Assembly. Such participation already means institutional recognition of the current parliament. If the opposition itself is involved in that process, it will be extremely difficult to convincingly challenge the legitimacy of Nikol Pashinyan's government, even at the level of political speech.
The question of legitimacy cannot be argued in parallel with words, but confirmed with actions. If political behavior contradicts political statements, then the latter lose their value and influence."
