2018 is fast becoming a turning point in the history of Armenia. After a civil disobedience campaign ousted Serzh Sargsyan from office in April 2018 – only six days after finishing his second presidential term and being appointed Prime Minister – the country held its first elections in two decades without widespread fraud or violence against the opposition.
In the wake of this upheaval, The Economist named Armenia “country of the year”. But the magazine added a suitable warning: “A stellar performance in one year is no guarantee of future success.” While there were grounds for cautious optimism, it could also be expected that a more complex period - of democratic consolidation accompanied by difficult and often unpopular reforms - lay ahead in Armenia.
A recent poll by the International Republican Institute showed declining but still relatively high public support for Nikol Pashinyan’s government: 69% of respondents view last year’s change of government positively, a significant reduction from 82% in October 2018. This declining support is understandable. The post-revolutionary euphoria could not last long and, quite predictably, Armenia has not experienced an immediate economic breakthrough. More than 60% of poll respondents want the government to undertake political and economic reforms quickly rather than gradually.
