MP accuses Pashinyan's party of 'new form of authoritarianism'

MP Kristine Vardanyan of the opposition Hayastan faction on Friday accused the ruling Civil Contract party of displaying what she called a “new form of authoritarianism”, saying that symbolic gestures and modern image-building do not make a government democratic.

“Being neatly shaven and making heart signs doesn’t make you democratic,” Vardanyan said from the parliament podium, referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent Facebook video in which he formed a heart with his hands. “Yes, times have changed. Maybe we don’t look like Saddam Hussein and now we have the internet instead of 1937, but it doesn’t mean you’ve become more democratic.”

Vardanyan stressed that democracy is defined not by appearances but by institutional behavior. “Authoritarianism is the concentration of power in one party’s hands, the dismissal of the Supreme Judicial Council chairman with a single text message and the ongoing suppression of dissent,” she said.

“You can make hundreds of heart signs, but it changes nothing. This is a new kind of authoritarianism with better branding, but the same essence,” the opposition MP added.