Armenia between altar and ballot as elections approach |
The confrontation between Armenia’s political leadership and the Armenian Apostolic Church has moved from quiet tension to open conflict at a highly sensitive moment. As elections approach, the dispute has taken on a political dimension that extends far beyond questions of religious reform. It now touches on state authority, national identity, and the limits of power in a system that is undergoing rapid transformation.
The government’s actions toward the church, the opposition, and key electoral mechanisms point to a broader attempt to redefine the rules of political competition. What is unfolding is not merely a conflict between personalities, but a contest over who controls the pillars of influence in Armenian society, the state, the church, and the electorate.
Two powerful camps are increasingly defining the battlefield: on one side, the architects of a so-called “new Armenia,” rallied around Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan; on the other, the traditional pillars of Armenian political life, where the church occupies a central, if increasingly contested, role. The confrontation between these forces is not incidental. It is structural, deliberate, and unfolding at a moment when institutional trust is already fragile.
Pashinyan’s strategy appears increasingly focused on pre-emptive control. His aim is not merely to win elections, but to enter them with as few unpredictable variables as possible. This logic explains his parallel moves against political opponents and institutional rivals. The Homeland Party and its leader, Artur Vanetsyan, remain a key concern in this context. By tightening pressure during local elections and keeping Vanetsyan under constant political and legal scrutiny, Pashinyan is effectively neutralizing a........