JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS WESTERN DEMOCRACY RECIPES NOT APPLICABLE IN ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily
18/04/2007

On Tuesday, April 17 Armenian Justice Minister David Haroutiunian said
that Armenia has made substantial progress over the last 15 years,
but added that political reforms are lagging behind economic ones.

‘This is why now it is time for us to revaluate the significance
of political reform from the perspective of sustainable economic
advancement," Mr. Haroutiunian said.

Speaking to an international conference about the role of elections
in democratic processes, the Minister said that the priority now is
to take effective measures for building a state of true democracy
and rule of law.

However, Justice Minister Haroutiunian went on to speculate that free
and just elections are not sufficient for strengthening the democracy
in Armenia, arguing that Armenia’s national and regional peculiarities
should not be overlooked.

"A significant portion of Armenian political landscape is not ripe
yet," he said, adding that ‘the Western democracy recipes are not
applicable in Armenia."

To the Minister’s opinion, this does not mean that Armenia is not
prepared for democracy. According to him, passive political parties
must leave the political stage, municipality elections must be
politicized and small parties must merge."

"We have about 70 registered political parties but in the last decade
the majority did not participate in elections,’ he substantiated.