Sargsyan's protege dents Pashinyan's popularity

Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan ranked higher than Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the popularity rating based on the result of the opinion poll held in the country by the International Republican Institute (IRI, the U.S.), according to the Hraparak newspaper. 

According to the newspaper, Pashinyan's rating is 56%, Sarkisyan's one - 61%.

According to the survey, the rating of the My Step ruling bloc reached 52%, the Prosperous Armenia Party's rating - 12%, Armenia's Republican Party - 5.1%, ARF Dashnaktsutyun - 3.5%.

The writer, journalist, Vesti FM radio station host Armen Gasparyan, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Pashinyan is losing huis revolutionary influence. "When a politician is in opposition, in fact, he is not responsible for anything. But when society puts him in one of the main state offices, he has to put his slogans into practice. And here a number of difficulties arise. First, Pashinyan has no serious management experience - he was a journalist, then an opposition politician, he spent some time in prison, then in parliament. But managing an entire state requires a completely different experience," he said.

"Second, Pashinyan abandoned some of his slogans, in particular, in relation to Russia and the Customs Union. It raises doubts: was it about a policy or  just about gaining power? Third, quite a long time had passed since the revolution, but what has changed in Armenia? Some Armenian colleagues say that the level of corruption has somewhat declined, but that's all," Armen Gasparyan said.

"In this regard, it is understandable why the president overtook the prime minister: people are looking for such a leader who can personify certain aspirations and desires of the people have. In this case, they find them in the person of the president, because he is an experienced politician who has always been engaged exclusively in pragmatic activities," the host at Vesti.FM added.

The polarity of people's support of various political forces, when only two figures and one organization have more than 50% support, while others - less than 10%, is explained by the consequences of the revolutionary coup in the country. "I mean the Republican Party, which is half-crushed now, and Dashnaktsutyun. Positions of others also weakened, because any revolution is a crisis, which affected all ratings," Armen Gasparyan concluded.