Armenian people must express their will in elections – Konstantin Tasits

Political scientist and South Caucasus expert Konstantin Tasits spoke to Alpha News about the arrests and imprisonment of Armenian opposition leaders and the potential consequences.

“The authorities claim they are intensifying the fight against corruption. Consequently, both the media campaign and the actions of investigative bodies show signs of increased activity—various arrests and so on. This creates an atmosphere of fear in society. These actions are essentially linked to political events, particularly the parliamentary elections, since the authorities, given their low approval ratings, need to maintain public apathy and prevent the protest electorate from consolidating around centers of unity and strength. Therefore, anyone who even slightly expresses opposition to the current government is at risk,” Tasits said.

The expert draws parallels between Armenia, Moldova, and Georgia, emphasizing that overstepping the mark could lead to electoral consequences for the authorities.

“Justice is selective: representatives of the former authorities or opposition figures are arrested first, while corruption scandals involving the current government or those close to it remain unaddressed. It is always a very difficult question—how these processes will develop and how long they can continue. We see a largely similar situation in Moldova, for example, when the authorities banned television channels and the registration of political parties during the pre-election period under rather flimsy pretexts. Their interpretation of electoral corruption was extremely broad—even visiting a store owned by a Moldovan politician was considered corrupt. On the other hand, there’s the example of Georgia under Mikheil Saakashvili, where in the late period of his rule, the positive aspects of reform and modernization significantly diminished, authoritarianism intensified, the search for spies and foreign influence intensified, and scores were settled with the opposition. Ultimately, all this led to his defeat in the elections,” Tasits noted.

According to the political scientist, the Armenian people can have a powerful voice and express their attitude towards the authorities’ actions in the upcoming elections.

“Here, in this case, it’s up to the Armenian people to decide whether the Armenian authorities’ actions are more positive or negative. In this sense, the people must express their will in the elections,” he concluded.