Political technologists know that the electorate usually supports well-known characters, but two years ago, thanks to the competent work of political technologists, the little-known opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan gained wide popularity. PR specialists found a similarity between him and Monte Melkonyan, the field commander of the Karabakh separatists, widely known in the country and abroad. The future prime minister was advised to abandon the image of a smooth-shaven politician in favor of an overgrown militia in camouflage.
Two years later, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Pashinyan to urge people to support him in an effort to "clean up" the political field of the republic from unwanted people who are somehow connected with the previous regime. The prime minister is seriously concerned about image losses, while the current situation with the spread of coronavirus infection demonstrates the authorities' inability to act promptly. Measures to prevent the virus are not original, putting society in a state of uncertainty.
Certainly, not Pashinyan is the architect of the current Armenian healthcare system. However, critics note that the prime minister seeks to divert public attention from issues related to medicine, minimizing the scale of the problem. Answering citizens' questions live on his Facebook page, Pashinyan discusses the likely mistakes of his government, explaining this to the fact that people tend to make mistakes.
Sharing arguments and assumptions during their online broadcasts has become a tradition for the Armenian Prime Minister. Recently, Pashinyan talked about conspirators directly or indirectly associated with the structures of the Karabakh clan. The prime minister refrained from direct accusations against specific individuals, but did not miss the opportunity to emphasize the need for further personnel reforms. Thus, he hinted at the next stage of lustration in Armenia, the reason for which could be the dissemination of false information in the republic. The fact is that a video was posted on the Internet, mounted from video frames that captured the preparation for the announcement of the Prime Minister’s appeal to the people on the air. In the video, the prime minister coughs in the background of a picture of a coronavirus. "Drain" caused a scandal between the government and the leadership of the Public Television of Armenia. As a result, Margarita Grigoryan, who for a long time served as executive director of Public Television, was forced to resign.
The incident itself on the Public TV channel was defined by the leadership of the republic as malicious wrecking, which should be investigated. However, the question arises about the customers of the sensational informational "drain", because the comical consequences of publishing working video materials did not in the least hit Pashinyan's reputation as a politician. It is worth saying that between Pashinyan and the leadership of the channel repeatedly there were conflicts. The prime minister often criticized television people for distributing incorrect information. Last Monday, during the next online broadcast, the Armenian Prime Minister announced the existence of a group of people who are unhappy with the results of the revolution. According to the Prime Minister, these people are trying to use any opportunities, including media platforms, to assess what is happening as independent experts, in fact "serving the past government."
For the current leadership, media criticism is seen as a torture to implement the plans of the Karabakh clan for the transit of power in favor of members of the "family". According to Pashinyan, long before the revolution "a 5-10-year plan was developed" with the involvement of young people with education in the "political infrastructure" of the republic.
It would seem, why should Pashinyan talk about “pests” during a pandemic, focusing public attention on corrupt officials, crime, deprived of privileges oligarchs, as well as corrupt media that lost reliable financing? The prime minister believes that the threat of counter-revolution is still not eliminated. If earlier Pashinyan was afraid that the “counter-revolution” might come from the self-proclaimed regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, now he believes that the opposition will take advantage of the epidemiological situation, organize a large-scale campaign, accusing him of all the ills of national health, because the degree of irritation in the republic against the background The epidemic is stably high.
Interestingly, for the first time in the modern history of Armenia, the leadership of the republic drew attention to the activities of the Armenian clergy, suspecting him of political intrigue. Pashinyan unambiguously hinted at the lack of support from the clergy, since the Armenian clergy not only distanced themselves from the current leadership, it also called for the release of the investigative ex-president of the republic, Robert Kocharian.
Pashinyan does not seek to challenge the clergy, however, speaking of the "lack of spiritual life" in Armenia, he hints at the need for cooperation between secular and spiritual authorities. It is likely that Pashinyan does not expect to reach the level of understanding that was between the clergy and the previous authorities, but he cannot hide the disappointment with the lack of assistance, since revolutionary rhetoric during the epidemic is ineffective, and there is no other in Pashinyan’s tools.
