Election Primer: Who’s Who

Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary election has drawn a crowded and diverse field of contenders with 19 political forces competing for seats in the National Assembly, including 17 parties and two electoral alliances. Under Armenia’s electoral system, parties must secure at least 4% of the vote to enter parliament, while alliances of up to three parties face an 8% threshold. 

According to recent EVN Report polls, the main contenders include Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract Party, Strong Armenia led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, former President Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia Alliance, and tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party.

Below are brief profiles of all parties and alliances competing in the election, listed according to their ballot number assigned by the Central Electoral Commission.

Reformists Party – N1

The Reformists Party, founded in 2016, is led by Vahan Babayan who was a member of parliament from Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party in 2012–2017. Their candidate for Prime Minister is Vagharshak Harutyunyan, who served as Armenia’s Defense Minister on two separate occasions, first in 1999–2000 and more recently in 2020–2021 under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. He was then Armenia’s ambassador to Russia from 2022 to 2024.

I Am Against All – N2

The I Am Against All party was formed by a group of activists ahead of the June election. Its platform centers on three electoral reform demands: abolishing the “stable majority” and second-round runoff provisions, lowering the parliamentary threshold to 1%, and introducing an “Against All” option on ballots. The party proposes forming a temporary 100-day government to implement these reforms before dissolving parliament and triggering new elections under the revised system. It has joined forces with rights activist Nina Karapetyants, who is their candidate for Prime Minister.

Strong Armenia Alliance – N3

The Strong Armenia Alliance, centered around the party of the same name, was founded in 2025 and has quickly emerged as the main opposition challenger to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract Party. The alliance is led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan and presents itself as a center-right force advocating  “program for rapid economic development and overcoming poverty” while promoting what it describes as a “free, strong state guided by Christian values.”

Karapetyan was jailed until late December 2025, before being transferred to house arrest after posting more than $10.6 million in bail, the largest in Armenian history. He has been charged with publicly calling to seize power, money laundering, and tax evasion.

Although the alliance is formally built around the Strong Armenia party, it effectively operates under the leadership of Karapetyan’s nephew, Narek Karapetyan, the son of former parliament member and ex-presidential chief of staff Karen Karapetyan. The movement itself emerged from the In Our Way (Mer Dzevov) initiative launched by Karapetyan’s allies in August 2025 and later registered as a party under the Strong Armenia name.

Under Armenia’s Constitution, Samvel Karapetyan is ineligible to serve as Prime Minister because he holds Armenian, Russian and Cypriot citizenship. His team has declared that it will amend Article 148 of the Constitution to remove that restriction by allowing individuals who renounce foreign citizenship to become eligible for the premiership.

Strong Armenia has been endorsed by the Country to Live In Party led by Mane Tandilyan and linked to Ruben Vardanyan, the HayaKve civil initiative led by Avetik Chalabyan, the Heritage Party of former Foreign Minister and presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian, and former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan’s Liberty Party. The alliance is made up of three parties: Strong Armenia and two obscure parties called New Era and United Armenians.

Meritocratic Party – N4

The Meritocratic Party, led by Gurgen Simonyan, was founded in April 2025. Simonyan is a lecturer at both the International Scientific-Educational Center of the National Academy of Sciences and the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University.

New Force Party – N5

The New Force Party, registered in mid-2024, is led by comedian and former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan. Elected mayor in the aftermath of the 2018 Velvet Revolution as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract candidate, Marutyan won more than 81% of the vote. Relations between the two deteriorated after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, culminating in Marutyan’s removal by Civil Contract members of the Yerevan City Council in December 2021.

In the 2023 Yerevan Council elections, Marutyan returned to politics at the head of the National Progress Party, which finished second after Civil Contract with nearly 19% of the vote.

Wings of Unity – N6

The Wings of Unity Party was launched in 2025 by former Human Rights Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan, who previously served as Armenia’s deputy justice minister (2013–2016). The party’s second-ranking figure is Davit Ananyan, former head of Armenia’s tax and customs authority and former deputy finance minister (2016–2018). The party has aligned with nationalist activist Shahen Harutyunyan, the son of Shant Harutyunyan.

Tatoyan had initially agreed to form an alliance with the HayaKve civil initiative led by Avetik Chalabyan, but the partnership collapsed in April.

The party presents itself as a force advocating a sovereign, secure and law-based Armenia, emphasizing independent decision-making free from external pressure, military strength, social cohesion and institutional reform. Its platform also focuses on national security modernization, transparency and strengthening the rule of law.

Tatoyan has ruled out supporting either Nikol Pashinyan or Robert Kocharyan for Prime Minister in parliament. He has also rejected backing Samvel Karapetyan and the Strong Armenia alliance if doing so requires constitutional amendments designed to allow a specific individual to hold office.

Prosperous Armenia Party – N7

The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), founded in 2004 and led by tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan, was the second largest party in parliament between 2007 and 2021. It served as a junior coalition partner to the ruling Republican Party from 2007 to 2012 before briefly attempting to position itself in opposition, later adopting a more semi-cooperative stance toward the authorities. During the 2018 political transition, the party’s parliamentary faction split over Serzh Sargsyan’s bid to remain in power as Prime Minister; Tsarukyan himself did not participate in the vote.

Prosperous Armenia failed to enter parliament for the first time in 2021, after receiving 3.9% of the vote.

The party’s current program contains 10 “proposals for Armenia”, including calls for “peace with guarantees” and a balanced foreign policy without what it describes as “unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan.”

Although not formally structured as an alliance, Prosperous Armenia has been joined by two smaller parties։ Democratic Alternative, a small party led by Suren Surenyants, a former ally of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Mother Armenia Party, led by former parliament member Andranik Tevanyan from Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia Alliance. Martun Grigoryan, a current parliament member from Serzh Sargsyan’s I Have Honor, also joined Tsarukyan. His Our City Alliance won over 15% of the votes in local elections in Armenia’s second city Gyumri in March 2025.

National Democratic Pole Party – N8

The National Democratic Pole Party is the successor to the Sasna Tsrer Party, best known for the 2016 armed takeover of a police station in Yerevan which led to a hostage crisis. Its leaders are Lebanese-born Artsakh war veteran Jirayr Sefilian and retired Colonel Varuzhan Avetisyan. The party has never entered parliament, receiving 1.5% of the vote in 2021, while Sasna Tsrer, won 1.8% in the 2018 election.

Kochari National Revival and National Awakening Party – N9

The newly registered Kochari National Revival and National Awakening Party is led by Artak (“Arthur”) Sargsyan, a controversial Armenian figure who, together with associate Artur Margaryan, was active in Kenya in the mid-2000s. Known collectively as the “Arthur Brothers”, the two secured government-linked positions in Kenya in 2005 before being expelled the following year after an armed raid on a media company and being detained at an airport with forged documents and weapons. Investigators later accused them of fraud and drug trafficking. The pair later surfaced in the Maldives in 2013, where authorities monitored and again expelled them.

In 2023, they appeared in Yerevan alongside opposition figure Suren Petrosyan during city council elections. In June 2024, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the anti-government Tavush for the Homeland movement, publicly introduced them at a rally as “very interesting sons of Armenia,” without referencing their controversial history.

Armenian National Congress Party – N10

The Armenian National Congress Party, led by Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was formally established in 2008 as the successor of the Pan-Armenian National Movement (HHSh), which was Armenia’s ruling party from independence until Ter-Petrosyan’s resignation in 1998. Their candidate for Prime Minister is Levon Zurabyan, ANC’s Vice President. Zurabyan was the presidential aide and spokesperson of Ter-Petrosyan. Between 2012 and 2017 he was a member of parliament. The party won 1.5% of the vote in 2021.

The party program argues that the current government is leading Armenia toward destruction through poor governance and a failure to secure peace, and asserts that the country needs a new leading force capable of ensuring security and defending independence through realism, strategic balance, and a commitment to sovereign peace.

Republic Party – N11

The Republic Party was founded in 2001 by Aram Sargsyan, younger brother of Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenia’s influential Defense Minister and Prime Minister who was assassinated during the 1999 parliament attack. Aram Sargsyan briefly served as Prime Minister under President Robert Kocharyan in the aftermath of the killings.

In the 2021 parliamentary election, the party received 3% of the vote, falling short of the 5% threshold. It performed considerably better in the 2023 Yerevan City Council elections, receiving 11% and joining forces with Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party in backing Tigran Avinyan’s successful mayoral bid.

Sargsyan also played a leading role in the Eurovote initiative, which collected 50,000 signatures in support of legislation committing Armenia to pursue EU membership. In Gyumri’s March 2025 local elections, the Republic Party joined forces with Arman Babajanyan’s Rally for the Republic Party and Tigran Khzmalyan’s European Party under the “Euro-alliance” banner.

Christian-Democratic Party – N12

The Christian-Democratic Party, led by Levon Shirinyan, was founded in 2021. Shirinyan was a lecturer at Armenia’s State Pedagogical University. In the 2021 election, the party joined forces with Arman Babajanyan’s Rally For the Republic under the name Shirinyan-Babajanyan Alliance, but failed to enter parliament after winning 1.5% of the vote.

Alliance Party – N13

On May 25, Alliance Party leader Tigran Urikhanyan announced that they are officially withdrawing from the race to prevent their potentially wasted votes from being redistributed as a “bonus” to the current administration, thereby aiming to block Pashinyan’s path to re-election.

The Alliance Party, founded in 2015, is led by Tigran Urikhanyan, who had been a parliament member from Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia from 2012 to 2021. The party calls itself “progressive centrist”. In the 2021 election, Urikhanyan led the newly created party Armenia Is Our Home. An alliance with Ara Abrahamyan, head of the organization Union of Armenians of Russia, which won 0.95% of the vote. Urikhanyan has not been registered as a candidate by the Central Electoral Commission for failing to prove being solely an Armenian citizen and residing in Armenia for the last 4 years.

Democratic Consolidation Party – N14

The Democratic Consolidation Party, led by Suren Petrosyan, was launched in 2021. Petrosyan was lecturer at Armenia’s Public Administration Academy between 2016 and 2024. In the 2023 Yerevan City Council election, the party won 1% of the vote. He supported Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan’s anti-government movement in 2024, but subsequently had a falling out with them.

Democracy, Law, Discipline Party – N15

The Democracy, Law, Discipline Party is led by the controversial blogger Vardan Ghukasyan (better known by the moniker “Dog”). The party’s Armenian name abbreviates “Dok”, a direct reference to his nickname. He has been charged with allegedly running a criminal organization, including extortion, fraud and money laundering. He and his associates are alleged to have built large social media audiences via fake accounts, collected compromising information on targets, then used threats of public exposure to extort money.

The Central Electoral Commission did not register Ghukasyan’s candidacy for prime minister as he failed to produce evidence of residing in Armenia. He was arrested in the United States in February 2025 by immigration officers and placed into custody in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had entered the U.S. in February 2022 and failed to depart under the terms of his admission. According to his lawyer, a U.S. Immigration Court ruled in October 2025 that he will not be extradited to Armenia, but had to leave the country. As of early May 2026, Ghukasyan is in custody in a third country according to his lawyer.

Ghukasyan’s previous party, Public Voice, won nearly 10% of the vote in the 2023 Yerevan City Council election.

Civil Contract Party – N16

The Civil Contract Party, founded in 2015 and led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has governed Armenia since the 2018 Velvet Revolution brought him to power. The party secured a landslide victory in the 2018 parliamentary elections with 70% of the popular vote, followed by another decisive win in 2021, when it received 53.7% and captured 71 of 107 parliamentary seats.

 Civil Contract is campaigning under the slogan “Stand Up for Peace”. Its electoral program, rooted in Pashinyan’s “Real Armenia” ideology, emphasizes economic and institutional transformation, as well as the institutionalization of peace with Azerbaijan.

Armenia Alliance – N17

The Armenia Alliance was formed ahead of the 2021 parliamentary election by former President Robert Kocharyan, his non-partisan allies and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF-Dashnaktsutyun). It won 21% of the vote, becoming the second largest force in parliament after Civil Contact.

Kocharyan, who was president from 1998 to 2008, has maintained a long-standing alliance with the ARF. The party, which had been banned and whose leaders were imprisoned under President Levon Ter-Petrosyan in 1994, was legalized after Kocharyan came to power. Throughout his presidency, the ARF served as a key political ally, holding ministerial positions and formally joining the governing coalition in 2003 after backing Kocharyan in both the 1998 and 2003 presidential elections.

The alliance’s third component is the Forward (Araj) Center-Right Party, founded in 2024 and led by Sevak Khachatryan. He headed the Victory (Haghtanak) bloc in the local elections in Vagharshapat (Ejmiatsin) in November 2025, where it came second with 32% of the vote.

The alliance’s program emphasizes a secure and competitive Armenia. 

Rally for the Republic Party – N18

The Rally for the Republic Party, founded in 2021, is led by Arman Babajanyan, owner of the 1in.am news outlet and online TV. Babajanyan was a member of parliament from Marukyan’s Bright Armenia in 2018–2021. The party joined forces in September 2024 with other like-minded partners to launch the Eurovote initiative, which successfully collected 50,000 signatures to propose a bill to parliament formally declaring the country’s intent to begin the process of joining the European Union. It partnered with Aram Sargsyan’s Republic Party and Tigran Khzmalyan’s European Party in the local elections in Gyumri in March 2025 under the name “Euro-alliance”.

In the 2021 election, the party joined forces with Levon Shirinyan’s Christian-Democratic Party under the name Shirinyan-Babajanyan Alliance, but failed to enter parliament after winning 1.5% of the vote.

Bright Armenia Party – N19

The Bright Armenia Party, led by former parliament member Edmon Marukyan, was launched in 2016. Marukyan aligned with Pashinyan in 2017, but was in opposition between 2018 and 2022. He once again aligned with Pashinyan when he was appointed Ambassador-at-Large in March 2022, a position he held for two years. In a recent podcast, Marukyan and number two on the party’s list, Karpis Pashoyan, explained their ideology as liberal conservatism. In the 2021 election, Bright Armenia received 1.2% of the vote, failing to enter parliament.

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