Vanetsyan's refusal from MP's mandate indicates failures of protest movement in Armenia

The refusal of Arthur Vanetsyan, the head of the "I have the Honour" oppositional parliamentary faction from his MP's mandate, as well as the announcement of the withdrawal of his "Fatherland" Party from the parliament, are results of the failure of the protest movement in Yerevan, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 21, Arthur Vanetsyan announced the resignation of his parliamentary powers and the withdrawal of his "Fatherland" Party from the parliament. According to his version, the parliament can no longer defend the interests of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Arthur Vanetsyan has refused from his MP's mandate due to the failure of the protest movement, Armen Badalyan, a political strategist, believes.

The political process began with the Vanetsyan's endless picket in Freedom Square, which triggered the protest movement, Mr Badalyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "There were stages during which the protest movement was successful, but on the whole it has failed to achieve the set mission – change of power [...] Most likely, he (Vanetsyan) didn't want to be a loser," Armen Badalyan has explained.

Armen Vardanyan, a political analyst, believes that by refusing from MP's mandate, Vanetsyan showed his integrity. "He had laid the basis for protests, hoping that the movement would succeed, and Pashinyan would resign. Even at the launch of disobedience actions, he said that in case of failure, he would not return to parliament," Mr Vardanyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent; however, he doubts that other oppositional MPs deputies will follow Vanetsyan and will give up their mandates.

In the opinion of Andrias Gukasyan, a political analyst, Vanetsyan failed to create his political image, which was the reason for his rejecting the mandate. As a politician, he turned out to be uncompetitive, Mr Gukasyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Vanetsyan failed to realize expectations either in parliament, or in the street, or in an interview; while political sponsors are tough people. They concluded that there was no point in wasting resources and wrote him off," Andrias Gukasyan has summed up.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 22, 2022 at 02:20 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.