Armenian political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan, head of the Voskanapat Analytical Center, stresses the need for the formation of political society and new agendas in Armenia.
"Our society is not political. It is highly politicized, but not political. This is a big problem, which brings about many other problems,” he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
His comments came ahead of an opposition rally to be held in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Tuesday evening.
“Let’s speak about today's rally, for example. People have basically one question: “What is the opposition going to do?” At the same time, this question contains a number of other, mainly rhetorical sub-questions: “Do we have to march through the entire city, gather and listen to speeches, and then go home once again?” This is not good,” Melik-Shahnazaryan said.
The analyst stresses political society itself sets the agenda and then finds the forces to serve that agenda. “There are such attempts in Armenia, of course, but the situation described above really dominates. Even many public figures are driven by this logic, demanding radical action from others instead of proposing political solutions themselves,” he noted.
“Today's rally in Yerevan is a good chance for the component parts of society to finally start shaping an agenda. We do not need a lot of people in the square, but the presence of elites. Intellectuals should come and, to put it in modern language, hold a casting. We need to see who among the speakers can be trusted with political leadership. And those who aspire to this leadership must, in their turn, avoid slogans and populist statements, trying to offer real and effective ways out of the situation.
“In other words, today we are facing an extremely important problem to form political society, new agendas, and to find leaders who fit these two points. I think the rally planned for tonight could be a good start to solving this problem. I hope it will be the case,” Melik-Shahnazaryan said.