From 10 to 19 May, 2020, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the activities of the Commandant’s Office.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 224 articles were declared, 94 of which were negative, 4 were positive and 126 were neutral.
Numerous negative articles have been published on the activities of the Commandant’s Office in Armenia during the state of emergency.
Political scientist Aghasi Yenokyan referred to the principles of formation of the Commandant’s Office and noted that it is of a formal nature. “Nikol Pashinyan faced a critical situation for the first time during his tenure, when it was obvious even to him that it was impossible to solve the problem with words and manipulations. For that very purpose, it was decided to bring Tigran Avinyan to the forefront, who, in Nikol Pashinyan’s opinion, was a more skilled manager. The Commandant was not provided with the necessary tools, as the budget of the Commandant’s Office was not defined, the staff was not presented, they did not announce the appointment of commandants in certain settlements either. All this comes to prove that the Commandant was a formal tool, a formal position, and in fact Nikol Pashinyan is the one who makes the decisions.”
Lawyer Arsen Babayan referred to the legal side of the activity of the Commandant’s Office: “According to the concept of the law, the Commandant’s Office was a collegial body, and the Commandant was only endowed with the right to manage the Commandant’s Office. However, after declaring a state of emergency, both legally and factually the Commandant assumed the power of the Commandant’s Office, which directly contradicted Part 1 and the first sentence of the Part 2 of the Article 8 of the Law. During that time, the Commandant adopted a number of normative legal acts, which he did not have the right to adopt.”
A comparison is made between Georgia and Armenia in terms of the number of infected people. According to a number of public representatives, as a result of the inefficient work of the government and the Commandant’s Office, we are in a high position in the world in terms of the number of infected people and the population.
Gevorg Gorgisyan, secretary of the “Bright Armenia” fraction, referring to the latest cases of the coronavirus, said that during this time the Commandant’s Office was constantly making illogical decisions, from which it was forced to refuse after a while, as an example, he mentioned the decision of not allowing to transfer more than a one passenger excluding the driver. Now the citizens are taking all the measures with the same lack of seriousness, consequently, we will have an increase in the number of cases.
