VALERIE BUNCE: ALL COMPONENTS OF DEMOCRACY EXIST IN ARMENIA

ArmRadio.am
14.03.2007 15:55

All the components of democracy exist in Armenia – freedom
of press, free elections, competition between political
institutions. Nevertheless, these are not enough for being considered
a truly democratic country, Valerie Bunce, PhD in Political Science,
said during the discussions at the US Embassy.

Currently the political scientist is mostly interested in the
parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia. Valerie Bunce
attaches particular importance to the fact that new forces have
emerged on the political arena. " Nevertheless, I specially stress
the importance of the presidential elections, since Armenia is more a
presidential country," she said. According to the political scientist,
the most important for Armenia today is the conduct of democratic
elections. "Free and fair elections are the most important among
the democratic principles today. I hope the upcoming elections will
be democratic," the American diplomat noted. Among the important
prerequisites of democratic elections Valerie Bunce pointed out to
the existence of accurate voting lists.

Making a comparative analysis of democratization processes in
post-Soviet countries, the political scientist mentioned that the
opposition is week in both Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics. "The
opposition is very week in all 12 post-Soviet states, expect for the
Baltic republics. Even Saakashvili does not have a strong opposition,"
she underlined. According to Valerie Bunce, the state of democracy is
"rather hard" in Azerbaijan. The situation got even worse after the
last elections, corruption has reached to an unbelievable level,"
she said, concluding that "it is impossible to build a democratic
state with oil."