A mountainous part of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh is run by ethnic Armenians who declared independence from Baku during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991. [66], Turnout was 48.62%, 12 percent lower than the 2017 elections. The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin (Armenian: , meaning "#RejectSerzh"), was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and civil groups led by a member of the Armenian parliament Nikol Pashinyan (head of the Civil Contract party). [36], Some politicians and analysts criticized the date of the election based on the fact that an amended Electoral Code was not passed by the parliament. Another outcome of the referendum was that the newly elected president will perform a ceremonial role as the country is currently transitioning from . On December 9, 2018, for only the second time in post-Soviet history, Armenia managed to conduct a free and fair electoral process. The police issued a statement saying that Pashinyan, Mikaelyan and Mirzoyan had been detained for 72 hours; however criminal charges could only be brought against them if the Republican-controlled National Assembly stripped them of their parliamentary immunity. If a president is still not elected, a third round of elections will be held wherein the two candidates who received a greater number of votes in the second round may participate. Party lists for Armenian elections offer some surprises The list of the ruling party, which came to power on promises to stamp out corruption, includes two prominent oligarchs. Below is the statement in its entirety. Later added: Removal of the Republican Party from power, Later added: Appointment of Pashiniyan as interim prime minister until snap elections are held, Republican Party decided to not put forward candidate in votes for new Prime Minister on 1 and 8 May, This page was last edited on 25 October 2022, at 19:35. Also she mentioned that unlike in previous years, the early start of campaign is not regarded as a violation of law by the CEC. [82] Pashinyan vowed to continue the protests until he was appointed prime minister. In particular, well-known musician SerjTankian of System of a Down addressed the activists declaring hissolidarity and support, stressing the impermissibility of one-partyrule in Armenia. ", https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/5ae046e89a79471c04280ebe, "Dashnaktsutyun Quits Armenian Government", "Armenian Parliament to Choose New PM on May 1", "Armenian Protest Leader Offers Talks with Government", "Acting PM Refuses to Meet 'Intransigent' Pashinian", "Ruling Party Figure Sees No 'Regime Change' in Armenia", "Tsarukian, Dashnaks Signal Support for Pashinian", "Armenian Parliament Majority 'Won't Block' Opposition Candidate for PM", "Armenian Ruling Party Vows No Candidate for PM (UPDATED)", "Pashinian Elected Armenian PM (UPDATED)", "Dilemma of quick defeat and long-term but inevitable victory", "Serj Tankian on Yerevan protests: Civil disobedience works like a charm when enough people participate", "Arminfo: In Yerevan, the initiative Take a step, turn down Serzhu began the action of civil disobedience", "EU envoy pledges to step up ratification of CEPA", "Saakashvili: Armenia has a great future", "Civil.Ge Georgia: Mixed Reactions over Armenia Protests", "Russian foreign ministry emphasizes restoration of public accord in Armenia", "U.S. ARMENIAN ELECTION 2018. [114], In October 2018, art critic Vardan Jaloyan and a group of artists organized an exhibition of contemporary art "Revolutionary Sensorium" at the History Museum of Armenia, where the key events of the revolution were presented to museum visitors in a combination of photographs and video installations. He also said that they "do not consider that the hasty elections will promote the establishment of stable political field". The Tahsnag party is the strongest party among the Armenians in Lebanon. The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament. They were the first elections after a constitutional referendum in 2015 that approved reforms for the country to become a parliamentary republic. He had amended the constitution in 2015 to remove term limits which would have prevented him doing this. December 9, 2018 marked a historic day in Armenia's modern era as people went to the voting stations for a snap parliamentary election. [116], In November 2018, the literary website "Groghutsav", founded by writers Arpi Voskanyan and Hambartsum Hambartsumyan, was relaunched. [1] As a result of the 2015 Armenian constitutional referendum, this was the first time in Armenia's history when the president was elected by the National Assembly instead of popular vote. [65] During the meeting, Sargsyan asked Pashinyan not to speak on behalf of the people and not to issue ultimatums to the government, given the low level of support for his political alliance (less than 10 percent of the vote in the past parliamentary elections). [46], Former Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan said that black PR has been used from the first days of the campaign, and called on all participants to move to a positive field. This Sunday's vote comes during a dramatic phase in the democratization of Armenia. He stepped down in October so parliament could be dissolved ready for the early election but remained the acting prime minister. [34][35][36] By the evening of April 25, the Republican Partys coalition partner ARF-Dashnaktsutyun had withdrawn from the coalition. True, there might be some common parameters, but on the whole these are different situations," he said.[111]. Avinyan's absence was the most noteworthy given the prominent role he has played since Pashinyan took power in 2018. The party that wins the run-off will be given the additional seats required for a 54% majority, with all seats allocated in the first round preserved. [85] In an interview on the same day, the president hailed the "New Armenia" that has come about due to the protests, and the chance for "a real democratic state". The latest phone survey about the coming Armenian parliamentary election was released by Marketing Professional Group (MPG) on May 22, 2021. 2018 Armenian parliamentary election received a high volume of edits on December 9 2018 at 05:05PM Find this Pin and more on Trends of 2018 by Jon Robson. ", "Tens Of Thousands Fill Yerevan Square As Protest Leader Pashinian Detained", "Armenian opposition leader detained amid political unrest", " ", " 232 ", "Yerevan Bracing For Fresh Protests After Detention Of Leader", "Group of soldiers joins anti-government protests in Armenia", "Armenian soldiers join anti-government protests in Yerevan", " ", " | ", " ", "Alexander Iskandaryan: Early to Say if Armenia Will Change for Better", " . Jump to navigation Jump to search. On 16 February, Armen Sarkissian officially accepted Sargsyan's offer to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. Anyone can read what you share. He has said he expects the election to lead to a legislature that better reflects the nations new political landscape. [6] If the president is not elected, a second round is held wherein all candidates who took part in the first round may participate. [11], By April 28, all of the opposition parties in Armenia's parliament had announced they would support Pashinyan's candidacy. ", " | - ", "69.4% of voters say will vote in favor of My Step alliance during upcoming elections GALLUP poll", " 68,3%- " " ", "Public Opinion Survey: Residents of Armenia", "Public Opinion Survey: Residents of Armenia: July to August 2018", "Pashinyan's Yelk would get 75% of votes if snap elections were held next Sunday, poll says", "International Community Supports Electoral Processes in Armenia", "U.S. Embassy Officials Discuss Elections Assistance with Armenia's Central Electoral Commission", "OSCE/ODIHR plans large-scale observation mission in Armenia", "Members of Russian State Duma to observe early parliamentary elections in Armenia", "Voting process in 1500 polling stations out of 2010 to be broadcast live during Armenia's early elections", "Armenia elections: Final voter turnout was less than 50%", "CEC announces final results of early parliamentary elections", "Parliamentary election in Armenia a milestone, Catholicos says", "Statement by the Spokesperson on the early parliamentary elections in Armenia - European External Action Service", "Council of Europe pledges full support to justice system reforms in Armenia", "Armenia elections respected fundamental freedoms: OSCE", "Armenia: UN human rights expert lauds peaceful transition", Participating political forces and their top 10 candidates, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2018_Armenian_parliamentary_election&oldid=1118629434, This page was last edited on 28 October 2022, at 01:36. . The U. S. Embassy congratulates the people of Armenia on their April 2 parliamentary election, following a period of widespread competition among various parties and blocs in an environment that allowed all viewpoints access to the media. [39][40], Campaigning began on 26 November 2018. [115], On May 9, 2019, within the framework of the 59th Venice Biennale of Art, the Armenian pavilion was opened, where the project "Revolutionary Sensorium" was presented under the curatorship of art critic Susanna Gulamiryan. [86] Meanwhile the ruling HHK party announced that they do not see any regime change occurring in Armenia. [1] As a result of the 2015 Armenian constitutional referendum, this was the first time in Armenia's history when the president was elected by the National Assembly instead of popular vote. Cf. [85] In the morning he met with Armenia's largely ceremonial President, leaders of the governing party's former coalition partner the ARF, as well as Parliament's second largest faction BHK. Sargsyan stressed the necessity for the presidential candidate to have wide support in the National Assembly when elected. [32][33] The event is referred to by some as a peaceful revolution akin to revolutions in other post-Soviet states. As a result of the 2015 Armenian constitutional referendum, this was the first time in Armenia's history when the president was elected by the National Assembly instead of popular vote. This program is carried out by publishing works that focus on the velvet revolution in Armenia in 2018 with its results and consequences. [7] A gender quota requires at least 25% of a list to be male or female, and nationwide lists can't include more than three consecutive members of the same gender. Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, is a close ally of Moscow, though Pashinyan, who came to power on the back of street protests and on an anti-corruption agenda in 2018, has had. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with an election threshold of 5% for parties and 7% for multi-party alliances. Snap parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 20 June 2021. The 2018 Armenian Revolution (most commonly known in Armenia as # MerzhirSerzhin ( Armenian: ), meaning "#RejectSerzh") was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and civil groups led by a member of the Armenian parliament Nikol Pashinyan (head of the Civil Contract party). [67], All the four seats reserved for national minorities (Assyrians, Kurds, Russians and Yazidis) were won by My Step Alliance.[68]. Description Mr. Pashinyan came to power after weeks of mass protests in April against corruption and cronyism in the former Soviet republic. These are snap ones, as previous parliament (elected in Dec 2018) was disbanded mid-term. By the evening 232 protestors had been detained or arrested,[69] and, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, tens of thousands[70] gathered in Republic Square to continue to demand the resignation of PM Serzh Sargsyan. . From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Mr. Pashinyan also suggested he would stick with existing policies on the long-running issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. They are the standard tool dictatorships use to avoid giving representation to opponents, and in particular representation to minority or ethnic groups or disgruntled regions - it is the way Turkey stopped for decades Kurdish political parties from entering the Turkish parliament (if a candidate gets 80% of the vote in one region . [50][51], On March 31, Nikol Pashinyan began his Im Qayl (my step) protest walk, starting in the city of Gyumri, and walking through cities and towns such as Vanadzor, Dilijan, Hrazdan, and Abovyan, before finally reaching Yerevan on April 13 and holding a small rally. These included lowering the thresholds for parties and electoral alliances to 4% and 6%, respectively, minimum representation of four political forces in the parliament (provided the fourth strongest receives at least 2% of the votes),[8] abolition of open lists of candidates from 13 regional constituencies[9] leaving only nationwide closed lists and introduction of TV debates. [28], Some critics believed that the current legislation favored the Republican Party of Armenia in the previous parliamentary election. Lanskoy, Miriam & Suthers, Elspeth. [38] The country's former ruling party, commanded a majority in the National Assembly prior to the elections, initially called for elections to take place in summer 2019 in order to give the parties time to prepare for elections and make amendments to Armenia's electoral code. 28 November 2018 In a dramatic election night President Donald Trump's Republican Party retained control of the Senate and the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives. The final vote was 56 in favour, three against. Nikol Pashinyan, the acting prime minister of Armenia, casting his vote on Sunday. The ballot paper has two sections; one of which is a closed list of candidates for the party at the national level and the other an open list of candidates for the constituency (of which there are 13) that the voter is voting in. " " ", " ", " " " ", "- ", "National Democratic party not to participate in snap parliamentary elections in Armenia - aysor.am - Hot news from Armenia", "Union for National Self-Determination to participate in Armenia early elections", "In Setback For Pashinian, Armenian Parliament Again Fails To Pass Election Bill", "Pashinyan and Parliament At Odds Over Early Snap Elections as ARF Loses Ministerial Footing", "Pashinyan proposes to set pre-election debate on live broadcast by legislation", "Vigen Sargsyan invites acting PM Nikol Pashinyan to debate - aysor.am - Hot news from Armenia", "Pashinian Refuses TV Debate With Republican Leader", "Leaders of 11 political forces take part in exclusive election debate live on Public Television", " ", "Election campaign rather tough and negative: ex Ombudsman - aysor.am - Hot news from Armenia", "Newspaper: My Step alliance tears down Bright Armenia Party posters, posts its own instead", "Republic party chairman's son involved in car crash, transported to hospital - aysor.am - Hot news from Armenia", " . On Friday, a court of appeal ordered the detention of former President Robert Kocharyan on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. [41], Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan proposed to form a tradition of holding live pre-election debates involving the top figures of all forces participating in the elections. [10] The bill sought to raise the minimum representation of each gender from 25% to 30% of the seats on a party list. The result was a victory for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, which won 58 of the 105 seats in the National Assembly. As a party or coalition must have the support of at least one fourth of the deputies in the National Assembly, the Way Out Alliance were not able to nominate a candidate as they only had nine deputies in the National Assembly. Ideally, this campaign would be ran with sponsorship from The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), or the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Today (June 20th) citizens of Armenia go to polls to vote in parliamentary elections! [55], After the election of the former president Serzh Sargsyan as the new prime minister, the protests continued to grow, despite hundreds of people being detained by police. As of Sunday morning, the Armenian police had made no effort to disrupt the demonstrations. Results showed that two moderate opposition parties Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia got enough votes to clear the 5% threshold to enter parliament. interestingly, in the past two parliamentary elections, the armenian political parties (mainly the arf) have always called for pan-partisan unity and called those who would not like to vote for. horse racing video replays gold tooth cap. Nine parties and two blocs are taking part in the election, and opinion polls suggested that the My Step Alliance, which includes Mr. Pashinyans Civil Contract Party, would easily win a parliamentary majority. Armenian citizens created a revolutionary majority at the parliament, Pashinyan told reporters at his blocs headquarters after first results were published. Is Armenia a signatory to CEDAW: No; After a change of power in the South Caucasus country of around 3 million people, Pashinyans government sought to initiate changes to the electoral code. The move will ease tensions in the country but will fail to end political divisions and solve structural troubles such as poor. Sargsyan had previously served. Pashinyan walked to Republic Square and told the crowd to go on strike the next day, and block all transportation from 8:15 in the morning until 5 in the evening, then gather for another rally at 7pm in Republic Square. Our message for Armavir marz had two main points, first we had a plan on how to fix the irrigation water issues in the marz which has been the main complaint of the . The 2018 Armenian Revolution, like others, appeared at the time as a big surprise to everybody - the authorities, the foreign partners, the people and even to the leaders of the revolution themselves. Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia still regularly accuse each other of conducting attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Azeri-Armenian border. The main airport access road was cut off, with some workers striking, and even land crossings were blocked. By Areg Gharabegian, Yerevan, January 2019. The result was somewhat ironic for the Republican Party, as even though they would have lost seats regardless, if the electoral reform law they had boycotted earlier in the year had been allowed to move forward, they would have successfully exceeded the new 4% threshold for parties and obtained seats. Armenia, Early Parliamentary Elections, 9 December 2018: Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions. [7] This means that at least 27 members of parliament must back the respective candidate in order for that candidate to be officially nominated. [43], Demonstrations and protests began in March 2018, when members of the Republican Party did not exclude the option of nominating Serzh Sargsyan for the prime minister's post. [1] According to the latest poll, support for the major political parties is divided as such: 22.4-percent of participants will vote for the Civil Contract party, 20.6-percent for the Armenia Alliance,. Registered Voters: 2,593,140 (2018) Gender Data: Female Population: 1,553,857 (2018 est.) [64], Voting at 1,500 polling stations (where over 90% of voters are registered) out of 2010 will be broadcast live. [48], On 27 November, the Republican Party said that some of the acting PM's statements during the election campaign were clear examples of hate speech. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Under Armenias constitution, 30% of seats in parliament must go to opposition parties. Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 2 March 2018. After taking office, Mr. Pashinyan promised there would be no major shifts in Armenian foreign policy and offered assurances he would not break with Moscow. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP) Table of Contents The Velvet Revolution Nikol Pashinyan Im Kayl (My Step) The Meeting 1 May 8 May Supporters of Nikol Pashinyan celebrate his election as prime minister of Armenia in Yerevan's Republic Square on May 8. .