Civil Contract

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Օpposition activist Rubik Hakobyan being removed from parliament. Image via Armenpress.

Armenia

Opposition and ruling party exchange insults following hearing on Armenia’s independence declaration

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Armenia’s opposition has held a hearing in defence of the inclusion of the Declaration of Independence in Armenia’s constitution, with opposition figures insulting supporters and members of the ruling party. The opposition Armenia Alliance faction held the hearing on Thursday to discuss the draft statement regarding the inviolable relevance of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence. The hearing took place against the backdrop of continued statements from Azerbaijan that the inclusion of the d

Former Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan. Official photo.

Armenia

Armenian Justice Minister resigns after photo surfaces of his deputy with Kocharyan’s daughter

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Armenia’s Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan has resigned after the ruling party demanded his dismissal following his appointment of a deputy who appeared in a 2019 photo with former President Robert Kocharyan’s daughter. Minasyan officially tendered his resignation on Tuesday, according to his post on Facebook. ‘Today I have decided to join the petition against my tenure. I submitted my resignation to the Prime Minister,’ he wrote, referring to the petition calling for his dismissal published

Protesters in Yerevan during the Velvet Revolution. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

Armenia

Power of the people: what made Armenia’s Velvet Revolution successful?

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•10 min read

In 2018, Armenians peacefully ousted their government in a fast-moving decentralised revolution. Six years on, and amidst regional upheaval, participants of the Velvet Revolution assess the key factors in the movement’s success. In the run-up to the spring of 2018, a change of government in Armenia seemed unlikely at best. Opposition to Serzh Sargsyan’s government had been steadily growing, intensifying in light of the announcement on 12 April that he would run for prime minister, having s

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a Civil Contract municipal elections rally in Yerevan. Image via Facebook.

Armenia

Armenian ruling party accused of ‘suspicious’ funding sources

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•3 min read

Two investigations by journalists in Armenia have suggested that the ruling Civil Contract party may have lied about the sources of their funding in order to get around rules aimed at removing big money from politics that they themselves introduced. In January, Infocom published an investigation about Civil Contract’s funding of its Yerevan municipal elections campaign last year, while CivilNet and OCCRP published a separate investigation on Thursday covering the donations received by the ruli

Hayk Marutyan, Yerevan’s former mayor. Image via Yerevan City Council.

Armenia

Ruling party removes former Yerevan mayor from city council

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

A coalition led by the ruling Civil Contract party has removed former Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan from the city’s council, in addition to two other opposition council members. Marutyan and the two other council members were ousted from the council by the ruling party’s coalition on Wednesday, over accusations they had missed too many council sessions. The extraordinary session was boycotted by two out of three opposition factions sitting in the council. They were ousted by a Civil Contract a

Demonstrators protesting against the ouster of Alaverdi mayor Arkady Tamazyan. Image via Civilnet.

Armenia

Civil Contract accused of ‘anti-democratic interference’ in local councils

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•3 min read

This week, Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party abruptly scrapped a power-sharing deal with another party in Gyumri, and ousted an opposition mayor in Alaverdi. Critics have accused the government of political pressure and blackmail in the regions. On Wednesday, the ruling party announced that they had terminated a shared governance agreement with the Balasanyan Alliance in Gyumri, the second-largest city in Armenia. The announcement claimed that the city council had a ‘shadow governanc

Tigran Avinyan, Yerevan’s Mayor. Image via Yerevan Municipality.

Armenia

Ruling party secures Yerevan mayorship despite underperforming in elections

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Tigran Avinyan of the ruling Civil Contract party has secured his position as Mayor of Yerevan despite failing to win a majority and after the ruling party’s worst electoral performance since coming to power in 2018. Avinyan was appointed by the Yerevan City Council on Tuesday, the first time the council had convened since elections in late September. Avinyan was the only candidate nominated by the council, as two of three opposition groups boycotted the vote. The Mother Armenia alliance a