The Anti-Corruption Center (ACC) affiliated with Transparency International also decried the government’s crackdowns on its critics and “widespread abuse of administrative resources.” It said these lingering problems with the rule of law are calling into question the freedom and fairness of next year’s Armenian parliamentary elections.
“According to data published in early 2025, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score for Armenia in 2024 remained unchanged compared to 2023 -- at 47 points -- indicating that no progress has been recorded in the fight against corruption over the past year,” the ACC said in a statement issued on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day.
Armenia ranked, together with Croatia, 63rd out of 180 countries and territories evaluated in the Berlin-based watchdog’s global survey cited by the ACC. The Armenian government had pledged in 2019 to have the country’s CPI score,” measured on a 100-point scale, gradually raised to 55 within three years.
“On the one hand, it can be said that nothing has been done to make progress [in the fight against corruption,] and on the other, fortunately, we are not regressing,” said Varuzhan Hoktanian, the ACC’s programs director.
Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” since coming to power in 2018. However, members of his entourage are increasingly accused by Armenian media of using their positions to enrich themselves, their families or cronies. None of them is known to have been prosecuted on relevant charges.
The authorities have cracked down instead on former government officials and wealthy individuals linked to them, using a Western-backed law on asset forfeiture which critics view as unconstitutional. Hoktanian described this as one of the manifestations of “selective justice” denounced by the ACC statement.
“Of course, we welcome the confiscation of illegally acquired property of former officials, but there must also be a similar attitude towards current officials,” he said.
Pashinian also vowed to separate business from politics when he swept to power during the 2018 “velvet revolution.” He has failed to honor that pledge, according to the ACC.
The Western-funded watchdog warned that the “intertwining of business and politics,” coupled with “widespread and unpunished abuses of administrative resources” and “selective enforcement of the law against political opponents,” is putting at risk “the legality of the elections” due in June 2026.