Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will convene a meeting on August 17 at the Republic Square in Yerevan, to talk about the 100-day activity of the new government.

Some political players of Armenia, such as the leader of the Armenian National Congress party Levon Ter-Petrosyan and the head of Armenian Renaissance party Artur Baghdasaryan have already called on their supporters to take part in the meeting. Meanwhile, the well-known Armenian political scientist and public figure Ashot Grigoryan has told Armenian media that he cannot understand the meaning of Pashinyan's meeting.

“On that day, Pashinyan would have to answer the questions, convince us that he, while not being the elected prime minister, is at least a worthy one, and show his work, and, having received approval, continue his activity. But let us be honest – is there anyone who has noticed economic changes in his or her life?” he stressed.

Grigoryan added that the expectations of the country’s population from the new government were not met, there is no economic boom, which undoubtedly should have followed the revolution.

“Our expectations are not met, and every month people will be disappointed, and the situation will be approximately the same as before the so-called revolution,” he noted.

The expert mentioned that “the terrible, anti-national regime of Serzh Sargsyan was replaced by young people with energetic hopes, who, however, have neither knowledge, nor experience, nor professionalism.”

Grigoryan added that the new authorities of Armenia, being in a euphoric state, are not able to tolerate any objections and accept the objective criticism, and in such conditions, “as a rule, the power falls quickly, and people who can really do something come to power.”

Although 100 days have passed since Pashinyan's coming to power in Armenia, he did almost nothing that could boast of at the meeting with population. Unemployment, weak economy, low foreign investment and exports, high inflation, corruption and poverty rates, and many other problems seized the country over past years because of the wrong management of the former authorities, and Pashinyan has not even prepared an economic program that could start solving these major problems.

The only thing he was good at was making promises to the people about 'bright future' when he was marching in the streets of Yerevan together with his supporters in April this year. Now the latter are waiting for a report from Pashinyan on what he has succeeded in while being the prime minister of the country. So far, there is no sign of improvement in the life of Armenians: the unemployment rate is around 18 percent, almost a third of the population lives in poverty, while thousands of people continue to emigrate from the country every month.

Meanwhile, those people who cannot leave the country for good hold rallies in different cities of Armenia in order to draw the government's attention to their problems. One of these rallies has been held in front of the Government building, where 200 employees of the Lydian Armenia company addressed Pashinyan only one disquieting question: “When will we start working in order to feed our families?”

Another rally has been held in the Artashat town of Armenia. Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, who complain of arbitrariness, tax terror and extortion by the local department of the State Revenue Committee, took to the streets of the town and complained that they were robbed mercilessly under the previous government and nothing has changed under the new authorities.

Every month there are more and more similar actions and rallies all over Armenia. New jobs are not created in the country, and there is no sign of recovery of the financial sector. That is, the change of persons in power has not led to changes in the well-being of the population. Pashinyan only eliminates his political opponents, which has no effect on the lives of ordinary people, and this, of course, causes discontent in Armenian society.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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