Nikol Pashinyan Decides to Increase the Number of Deputy Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs

The acting Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has made a change to one of his previous decisions from June 11, 2018. This concerns the decision on establishing the maximum number of positions within state government bodies, which was reduced following the ‘velvet revolution’ as the new Prime Minister came to power.

Today, Pashinyan has effectively amended this decision by increasing the number of deputy ministers in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs from the current four to five. There has been no comment from the government regarding the rationale behind this decision.

Interestingly, the decision to add a deputy minister position has been made at a time when the ministry does not even have a head. Minister Mesrop Arakelyan was relieved of his duties on April 23 at his own request. It should be noted that since coming to power, Pashinyan and his political team have repeatedly emphasized the need to reduce the bloated state apparatus.