What comes after Nikol Pashinyan?

In a new podcast, CivilNet host and analyst Eric Hacopian talks to Emilio Luciano Cricchio about the next chapter of Armenian political history and who are the likely successors to Nikol Pashinyan. Eric also discusses what the issues of tomorrow will be and how Armenian politics is changing.

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#armenia #politics #reportsinenglish #analysisarmenia #armenia2022 #armeniademocracy #armeniaelections #armeniapolitical #armeniapolitics #armenianpolitics #erichacopian #haykmarutyan #pashinyanresigns #podcasterichacopian #rubenvardanyan

Armenia Voted: Now What?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party received 53.92% of the votes. With this percentage, the party gained a **** constitutional majority in the newly elected parliament, meaning that its leader, Nikol Pashinyan, will be reelected as prime minister.

The second political force in the parliament will be former President Robert Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance with 21.04% of the votes, and the third - the I Have Honor Alliance - with 5.23% of the votes.

The parliament will consist of these three forces only. Previous parliamentary opposition groups, including Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia and Edmon Marukyan’s Bright Armenia parties, did not receive enough votes to enter parliament.

Parliamentary seats

CivilNet’s preliminary calculations:

Civil Contract Party: 72 seats

Armenia Alliance: 28 seats

I Have Honor Alliance: 7 seats

Will Armenia's second President Robert Kocharyan take the position of an opposition deputy in parliament? Or will he give up his seat to someone else on the Armenia Alliance list?

New Opposition

While the Armenia Alliance says as long as the “problematic issues have not received comprehensive explanations”, it will not accept the election results, but has not made clear whether it might reject the vote all together and not take their seats in parliament.

In a statement, the Armenia Alliance said it plans to appeal the results of the election in the country’s Constitutional Court. “We have serious grounds to consider these elections illegitimate, and declare that with these results, the National Assembly does not reflect the real balance of power,” the statement reads.

In comparison, despite voicing their disappointment in the results of the election, I Have Honor Alliance noted that, “The opposition must also own up to its mistakes.”

The World’s Response?

So far, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is the only foreign leader to congratulate Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his party's victory in Armenia's parliamentary election.

“I extend warmest congratulations to [Armenian] PM Nikol Pashinyan on handling successful elections and victory of Civil Contract Party according to the preliminary results. I wish all success ahead. I look forward to working closely with new [Armenian] Government,” Garibashvili tweeted.

Georgia recently took credit for facilitating an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, through which Azerbaijan handed over 15 of hundreds of Armenian POWs, in exchange for a map detailing the location of landmines in Azerbaijan’s Aghdam region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that the Kremlin sees Pashinyan's party's clear victory and congratulates the Armenian people on the election.

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#armvote #armvote21 #reportsinenglish #armeniaalliance #armeniaelections #georgia #ihavehonor #newparliament #russia

Bright Armenia – #ArmVote21

By Mark Dovich

The Bright Armenia Party (Lusavor Hayastan Kusaktsutyun) was founded by then-independent lawmaker Edmon Marukyan in 2015. Alongside Prosperous Armenia, Bright Armenia is one of two opposition parties with representation in the current legislature. In the most recent parliamentary elections in 2018, Bright Armenia won 17 seats in the National Assembly. This year, the party is running under the slogan “There is an alternative — vote!” (Ka aylentrank, kvearkir!)

Heading the Slate: Edmon Marukyan

Edmon Marukyan was born and raised in Vanadzor, Armenia’s third largest city and the regional capital of the northern province of Lori. A lawyer by education, Marukyan was involved in human rights activism and civil society building in Armenia in the 2000s. In 2012, he entered the National Assembly as an independent lawmaker, unaffiliated with any political party, as the representative for Vanadzor’s electoral district. He founded Bright Armenia three years later and has served as the party head ever since.

After Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war in and around Karabakh, Marukyan, like numerous other opposition figures in the country, called on now-acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. In a speech earlier this week, Marukyan stressed that his main priority is ensuring national unity in the aftermath of the war, saying that “We will do everything for national consent and unity to win, because if unity doesn’t win, the enemy will defeat us.” Marukyan has also been particularly outspoken in recent months on the issue of Armenian prisoners of war held captive in Azerbaijan.

Bright Armenia

Formed in 2015, Bright Armenia first won seats in the National Assembly in 2017, when it ran with Pashinyan’s Civil Contract and Aram Sargsyan’s Hanrapetutyun Party as the Way Out Alliance (Yelk Dashink). The alliance secured 9 of 105 seats in that vote. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, Bright Armenia ran alone and gained 17 of 132 seats.

The party has long called for deeper relations with the European Union and opposed Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russia-led economic bloc uniting five post-Soviet countries in an integrated single market. Nonetheless, Bright Armenia has also underlined the importance of Armenia’s strategic relationship with Russia and the need for Yerevan to maintain positive cooperation with Moscow.

Although Marukyan joined his opposition colleagues in calling for Pashinyan to resign after Armenia’s defeat in the September-November 2020 conflict, Bright Armenia notably did not join the Homeland Salvation Movement (Hayreniki Prkutyan Sharzhum) , an umbrella group of over a dozen opposition parties formed in December 2020. The group was founded to advocate for Pashinyan’s removal from power and the installation of a caretaker prime minister without waiting for an election.

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#armvote21 #reportsinenglish #armeniaelections #brightarmenia #edmonmarukyan #june20

Citizen’s Decision Party – #ArmVote21

By Mark Dovich

Citizen’s Decision (Kaghakatsu Voroshum) was founded in November 2018 by a group of leftists and civil society activists. Suren Sahakyan has served as party leader since the beginning. The party is not currently represented in the National Assembly, having earned less than 1% of the vote in the 2018 elections, far below the 5% threshold necessary to enter parliament. In the current election cycle, the party is running under the slogan “For it’s thine” (Zi ko e).

Heading the Slate: Suren Sahakyan

Suren Sahakyan, who hails from the city of Ijevan in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush Province, studied economics and finance at Yerevan State University in the late 1990s. Since the 2010s, he has actively participated in a variety of civil society activities and protest movements, most notably the Electric Yerevan mass protests of 2015, which emerged in response to a planned hike in electricity prices, and the Velvet Revolution of April-May 2018, which resulted in the ouster of longtime leader Serzh Sargsyan.

Citizen’s Decision

Formed in November 2018, the party traces its roots to the Mashtots Park protests of 2012, a series of then-ongoing, non-violent protests that emerged to halt “illegal” construction sites in Yerevan and the destruction of green zones in the city. “We developed important tactics and methods during those years,” Sahakyan said in a 2018 interview. He has also called the April-May 2018 Velvet Revolution, which brought now-acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to power, “a natural extension of the [Mashtots] protests.”

Citizen’s Decision has advocated for universal healthcare, universal and free primary and secondary education, and the establishment of a welfare state in Armenia, among other proposals. The party has prioritized implementing constitutional, electoral, and judicial reform, protecting the environment, ensuring gender equality, and supporting trade unions.

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#armvote21 #reportsinenglish #armeniaelections #citizen039sdecisionparty #kaghakatsiakanvoroshum

Armenian Soldier Killed in Gegharkunik

• Former President Robert Kocharyan held a press conference on the border crisis in Syunik.
  • Armenian Soldier dies as a result of Azerbaijani fire in Gegharkunik.
  • Georgia will open its land borders with Armenia on June 1.
  • Yerevan will acquire 211 new buses within the next six months.

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#armenia #dailyarmenia #reportsinenglish #2021electionarmenia #armeniaborders #armeniaelections #busesarmenia #busesyerevan #georgiaarmeniaborder #haykmarutyan #kocharyanazerbaijan #kocharyanelection #kocharyanpashinyan

All Armenia’s Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election

By Emilio Luciano Cricchio

In an unprecedented move, Armenia’s first, second, and third presidents, Levon Ter-Petrossian, Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan, respectively, have announced their participation in the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

On Sunday, first President Ter-Petrossian said he would lead the election list of the Armenian National Congress Party. Second President Kocharyan announced earlier that he would lead the Armenia Alliance, represented by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the newly created Armenian Renaissance party. Kocharyan himself is not a member of any political party.

Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party has formed an alliance with the Homeland Party, led by former head of National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan. Sargsyan and his party were ousted as a result of the 2018 revolution.

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will lead his Civil Contract Party without any alliances. Currently, his parliamentary My Step Alliance consists of the Civil Contract Party in coalition with the smaller Mission Party.

During a party convention on Sunday, Ter-Petrossian reflected on his earlier proposal to form an alliance with former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan against the incumbent prime minister. But both Kocharyan and Sarsgsyan had rejected the proposal, choosing to participate with their own alliances. Ter-Petrossian clarified that his alliance proposal with former arch-rivals was meant to prevent both Pashinyan’s and Kocharyan’s re-election and establish a government led by professional technocrats.

“Kocharyan's rejection of my proposal means that he is guided not by the interests of the state, but exclusively by the obsession to take revenge on Nikol Pashinyan. He has no other motivation,” Ter-Petrossian said.

He decried his successors, claiming they did not comprise enough in Nagorno Karabakh since his resignation in 1998. He also slammed Pashinyan for his short-sighted policies in the Karabakh negotiations and his provocative statement that “Karabakh is Armenia.”

Ter-Petrossian did say however that Sargsyan’s motives were different.

“Serzh Sargsyan's case is different, he does not pursue the goal of returning to power, participating in the elections, he is simply fulfilling his duty to his own party, to see even a small group of Republicans represented in the National Assembly.” Ter-Petrossian said.

The post All Armenia's Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #armeniaelections #levon #news #nikolpashinyan #robertkocharyan #serzhsargsyan #snapelections #terpetrossian

All Armenia’s Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election

By Emilio Luciano Cricchio

In an unprecedented move, Armenia’s first, second, and third presidents, Levon Ter-Petrossian, Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan, respectively, have announced their participation in the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

On Sunday, first President Ter-Petrossian said he would lead the election list of the Armenian National Congress Party. Second President Kocharyan announced earlier that he would lead the Armenia Alliance, represented by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the newly created Armenian Renaissance party. Kocharyan himself is not a member of any political party.

Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party has formed an alliance with the Homeland Party, led by former head of National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan. Sargsyan and his party were ousted as a result of the 2018 revolution.

Current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will lead his Civil Contract Party without any alliances. The current parliamentary My Step Alliance consists of the Civil Contract Party and the smaller Mission Party.

During a party convention on Sunday, Ter-Petrossian reflected on his earlier proposal to form an alliance with former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan against the incumbent prime minister. But both Kocharyan and Sarsgsyan had rejected the proposal, choosing to participate with their own alliances. Ter-Petrossian clarified that his alliance proposal with former arch-rivals was meant to prevent both Pashinyan’s and Kocharyan’s re-election and establish a government led by professional technocrats.

“Kocharyan's rejection of my proposal means that he is guided not by the interests of the state, but exclusively by the obsession to take revenge on Nikol Pashinyan. He has no other motivation,” Ter-Petrossian said.

He decried his successors, claiming they did not comprise enough in Nagorno Karabakh since his resignation in 1998. He also slammed Pashinyan for his short-sighted policies in the Karabakh negotiations and his provocative statement that “Karabakh is Armenia.”

Ter-Petrossian did say however that Sargsyan’s motives were different.

“Serzh Sargsyan's case is different, he does not pursue the goal of returning to power, participating in the elections, he is simply fulfilling his duty to his own party, to see even a small group of Republicans represented in the National Assembly.” Ter-Petrossian said.

The post All Armenia's Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #armeniaelections #levon #news #nikolpashinyan #robertkocharyan #serzhsargsyan #snapelections #terpetrossian

All Armenia’s Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election

By Emilio Luciano Cricchio

In an unprecedented move, Armenia’s first, second, and third presidents, Levon Ter-Petrossian, Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan, respectively, have announced their participation in the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

On Sunday, first President Ter-Petrossian said he would lead the election list of the Armenian National Congress Party. Second President Kocharyan announced earlier that he would lead the Armenia Alliance, represented by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the newly created Armenian Renaissance party. Kocharyan himself is not a member of any political party.

Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan’s Republican Party has formed an alliance with the Homeland Party, led by former head of National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan. Sargsyan and his party were ousted as a result of the 2018 revolution.

Current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will lead his Civil Contract Party without any alliances. The current parliamentary My Step Alliance consists of the Civil Contract Party and the smaller Mission Party.

During a party convention on Sunday, Ter-Petrossian reflected on his earlier proposal to form an alliance with former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan against the incumbent prime minister. But both Kocharyan and Sarsgsyan had rejected the proposal, choosing to participate with their own alliances. Ter-Petrossian clarified that his alliance proposal with former arch-rivals was meant to prevent both Pashinyan’s and Kocharyan’s re-election and establish a government led by professional technocrats.

“Kocharyan's rejection of my proposal means that he is guided not by the interests of the state, but exclusively by the obsession to take revenge on Nikol Pashinyan. He has no other motivation,” Ter-Petrossian said.

He decried his successors, claiming they did not comprise enough in Nagorno Karabakh since his resignation in 1998. He also slammed Pashinyan for his short-sighted policies in the Karabakh negotiations and his provocative statement that “Karabakh is Armenia.”

Ter-Petrossian did say however that Sargsyan’s motives were different.

“Serzh Sargsyan's case is different, he does not pursue the goal of returning to power, participating in the elections, he is simply fulfilling his duty to his own party, to see even a small group of Republicans represented in the National Assembly.” Ter-Petrossian said.

The post All Armenia's Former Presidents Set to Run in Unprecedented Election appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #armeniaelections #levon #news #nikolpashinyan #robertkocharyan #serzhsargsyan #snapelections #terpetrossian