From 11 to 20 July, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the President of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan’s personality and activities. 35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 369 articles were declared, 97 of which were negative, 17 were positive and 255 were neutral.
The NA Speaker continues to be at the center of criticism. There are many reasons for it, and the press can’t help noticing them. First, Ararat Mirzoyan’s visit to the United States was criticized. The press questioned the main purpose of Ararat Mirzoyan’s business trip with such a big delegation and for such a long time.
During the mentioned visit, Ararat Mirzoyan had meetings and press reported that he had met mainly with the Democrats and only with one Republican congressman. The press reminds that the US President is Republican, and the majority in the Congress are not Democrats either.
The press also criticized the structural and staff changes expected in the National Assembly. As a result of these changes, many employees may lose their jobs or lose their status of civil servants. The NA tried to make these changes gently, but the publications testify that there are dissatisfactions among the staff. This project has been criticized by the “Bright Armenia” party which noted that the ruling party wants to use this project in order to get rid of “unwanted ones”.
It is planned to create two new anti-corruption bodies In Armenia; the Anti-Corruption Committee and the Corruption Prevention Committee. Experts also were surprised when Ararat Mirzoyan presented this bill as his own. According to media reports, acommission had been formed which worked on drafting process of the bill.
According to media reports, a few days ago there was a tense situation between Ararat Mirzoyan and Sasun Mikayelyan. Civil Contrat’s Congress is still being discussed. According to a publication, the hot discussions got out of control so much that Sasun Mikelyan even slapped Ararat Mirzoyan.
In fact, Ararat Mirzoyan is not distinguished by his political activity and is often criticized either for interpersonal relations or business trips. In addition, Ararat Mirzoyan was blamed for getting rid of the staff by using various means. Ararat Mirzoyan should answer the the aforementioned issues and questions on his international activities, he should also justify the goal of 60,000 USD business trip.
