This is an article from the 2026 Civitas Examiner (Volume 3, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Kirill. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
On June 7, 2026, Armenians headed to the polls to elect Armenia’s parliament. Fighting for the seats were numerous parties, with two major competitors being Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, which holds pro-European and reformist views, and Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia alliance, which is pro-Russian. Civil Contract ended up coming on top, winning 64 out of 105 seats, while Strong Armenia placed second with 29 seats. A third party, the Armenia Alliance, led by former president Robert Kocharyan, won 12 seats, and is also Russia-leaning, and has a much harsher position on Nagorno-Karabakh. To understand why this election was so important, we need to look a little bit into the past.
To understand what led to this election, we need to understand two events: the 2018 Armenian Revolution and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia has been a parliamentary republic since 2015. Between 1999 and 2018, Armenia was ruled by the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), described as a typical post-Soviet party of power lacking an ideology. Their rule was marked by the erosion of trust in government and corruption. But the stick that broke the camel’s back happened in March 2018. After winning the 2017 elections, RPA formed a government and aimed to nominate a new prime minister. However, after they nominated Serzh Sargsyan, president of Armenia from 2008 to 2018, protests broke out because Sargsyan had promised he would not seek to become the country’s leader again when he resigned. This sparked mass protests, as Armenians and the opposition saw it as an attempt to cling to power. The revolution was bloodless yet successful, and Sargsyan was forced to resign, putting Nikol Pashinyan as the acting prime minister. The following 2018 snap election would further cement Pashinyan, with his alliance winning 88 of the 132 seats.
However, Pashinyan would soon face a challenge in the form of Nagorno-Karabakh. For context, Nagorno-Karabakh is a region located inside modern Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population. In 1988, a war broke out, which led to the de facto independence of the region as Artsakh, and Armenia occupied the surrounding territories of Azerbaijan. For a long time, the war was a stalemate. But in 2020, Azerbaijan launched a massive offensive, eventually capturing the second-largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, Shusha. This led to a ceasefire agreement with Armenia, ending with Azerbaijan regaining 72% of the territory it lost in the first war. This led to massive protests against Pashinyan, labeling him a “traitor.” However, the worst was yet to come. In 2023, Azerbaijan launched yet another offensive, preceded by a blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only land route connecting Armenia and Artsakh after the 2020 offensive. It led to the total dissolution of Artsakh and the flight of the 99% Armenians living there. This again sparked protests calling for Pashinyan’s resignation, but just like the first time, they failed.
Another important context for these elections is Russian pressure. Following the losses in Artsakh, many Armenians became disappointed in Russia, historically seen as a security guarantor, for failing to help Armenia despite the presence of its peacekeepers. In addition, since 2022, Pashinyan has pursued a more pro-European foreign policy, while depending on Russia for economic policy. Due to this noticeable pivot, Russia pursued a massive disinformation operation for the 2026 election, seeking to discredit Pashinyan and support pro-Russian parties. This included mimicking real European and Western news websites to publish disinformation, along with using AI to generate videos of actors from The Office to accuse Pashinyan of planning to start a war against Russia (as crazy as this sounds, this is true). In addition, Russia pursued economic coercion, saying that if Armenia chooses a Western pivot, it may no longer enjoy the economic perks of the Eurasian Economic Union, even calling for an immediate referendum on its membership.
Despite all this pressure, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract still managed to win the elections. It seems that Armenians made a difficult, but more pro-European choice. Additionally, since the loss of Artsakh in 2023, Pashinyan has pursued a more pragmatic, pro-peace policy, including peace with both Turkey and Azerbaijan, and in the 2026 campaign, he aims to continue it. In the end, it seems Armenia would pursue a more pro-Western trajectory, along with peace with both Turkey and Azerbaijan, though this future is not fixed, since internal division and polarization in Armenia are very real. What comes next for Armenia? We shall see.
