Armenia’s Fight Over the Rule of Law Has Echoes Across the Region

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In The Media

Carnegie Europe

Armenia’s Fight Over the Rule of Law Has Echoes Across the Region

While several post-Soviet countries such as Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine now routinely hold free and fair elections, another democratic pillar—rule of law—has proved much more difficult to achieve.

By Thomas de Waal

Published on Mar 3, 2020

Source: World Politics Review

If you thought judicial appointments were an explosive issue in the United States, just look at Armenia, where over the past year, the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has declared war on Armenia’s senior judges. Most recently, Pashinyan has called a popular referendum for April 5 to remove seven of the nine judges on the Constitutional Court, whom he accuses of blocking his reform agenda.

The government sees this as a last-ditch measure to clean up a corrupt justice system that Pashinyan inherited from former President Serzh Sargsyan. For the judges, it is an assault by politicians on the rule of law. In an unusual statement last month, the president of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s venerable advisory body on constitutional law, called on both sides “to exercise restraint and to de-escalate this worrying situation in order to ensure the normal operation of the constitution of Armenia.”

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This article was originally published by World Politics Review.

About the Author

Thomas de Waal

Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Thomas de Waal is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Recent Work

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Managing Montreux: Turkey and the Russia-Ukraine War in the Black Sea
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There Is No Shortcut for Europe in Armenia
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Democracy Russia Europe Eastern Europe Caucasus Armenia Iran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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