Analyst names biggest driver for initial success of protest movement in Armenia
The protest movement in Armenia led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan gained wide popular support initially because the majority of its supporters believed that former Armenian presidents were not behind it, political analyst Ara Poghosyan claims.
“Once the role of ex-presidents in the movement was legitimized under the slogan of ensuring public solidarity, the future of the movement was already uncertain,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
“I’ve always held fast the conviction that political succession is necessary in the spiritual and moral sense of the word. So long as the ex-presidents and their close associates strive for power, the Pashinyan government will survive.
“Of course, this is true if we assume that there are no internal agreements between the former presidents and Pashinyan, since such a scenario completely changes the pattern of political processes.
“And a simple algorithm remains, “If the former presidents remain the next contenders for power, Pashinyan stays in office, if the former presidents leave, Pashinyan leaves a priori”,” Poghosyan stated.