Freedom House: Armenia made improvements

Freedom House has released its “Nations in Transit 2012” report, which is the annual analysis of democratic development in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Armenia was included in the category of  countries with semi-consolidated authoritarian regime.

The democracy score of Armenia is 5.36 in the ratings based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest..

Ukraine (4.86), Georgia (4.75) and Kyrghyzstan (5.96) are in the transitional category, with the leaderships of Ukraine and Georgia qualified as 'transitional governor or hybrid regime' and the leaderships of Armenia and Kyrghyzstan as 'semi-consolidated authoritarian regime.'

Russia was put in the category of authoritarian regimes with 6.21 democracy score. Democracy score of Azerbaijan is 6.64. Belarus received 6.71, Kazakhstan - 6.57, Tajikistan - 6.25, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - 6.93. The governments of the mentioned countries are considered consolidated authoritarian regimes.

“The democracy gap between Azerbaijan and its Caucasian neighbors continued to grow in 2012. The peaceful and more inclusive elections in Georgia and Armenia contrasted sharply with the brutal suppression of public gatherings in the run-up to the Eurovision song contest in Baku,” the report notes.

Armenia has made improvements in media freedom and has improved its democracy along with the Czech Republic, Latvia, Georgia, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan, the report concludes.