Nikol Pashinyan

His Excellency
Nikol Pashinyan
Նիկոլ Փաշինյան
Pashinyan in 2023
16th Prime Minister of Armenia
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 May 2018
PresidentArmen Sarkissian
Alen Simonyan (acting)
Vahagn Khachaturyan
Preceded byKaren Karapetyan (acting)
Member of the National Assembly of Armenia
In office
6 May 2012 – 8 May 2018
Parliamentary groupWay Out Alliance (2012–2017)
Armenian National Congress (2017–2018)
ConstituencyYerevan Districts Kentron, Nork-Marash, Erebuni, Nubarashen
Personal details
Born (1975-06-01) 1 June 1975 (age 49)
Ijevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyCivil Contract (2013–present)
Other political
affiliations		My Step Alliance (2018–2021)
Way Out Alliance (2016–2018)
Armenian National Congress (2008–2012)
Impeachment Union (2007)
SpouseAnna Hakobyan
Children4
EducationYerevan State University
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX
Signature

Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (Armenian: Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան,[a] pronounced [nikɔl pʰɑʃinˈjɑn]; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018.[b] A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1998, which was shut down a year later for libel. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak ("Armenian Times") from 1999 to 2012. A supporter of Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allies.[1] Pashinyan was also critical of Armenia's close relations with Russia, and promoted establishing closer relations with Turkey instead.[2] He led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.

Pashinyan was a dedicated supporter of Ter-Petrosyan, who made a political comeback prior to the 2008 presidential election, before losing to Serzh Sargsyan in what Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters claimed was a fraudulent election. Pashinyan was one of the leaders of Ter-Petrosyan's supporters in the post-election protests in February and March 2008; the protests were dispersed by security forces on March 1, resulting in the deaths of ten people.[3] Convicted of organizing mass disorders, he went into hiding until mid-2009. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the protests. He was released in May 2011 as part of a general amnesty. He was elected to parliament from Ter-Petrosyan's broad opposition coalition, the Armenian National Congress, in 2012.

Pashinyan later distanced himself from Ter-Petrosyan on political grounds, establishing the party Civil Contract. Along with two other opposition parties, Pashinyan formed the Way Out Alliance which garnered almost 8% of the vote in the 2017 parliamentary election. He was the leader of the 2018 Armenian revolution which forced Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his government to resign. He was elected acting prime minister by parliament on 8 May 2018 and won snap parliamentary elections in December 2018.[4][5] Pashinyan's victory had originally been heralded by some observers as an improvement in democracy,[6] while others have criticized Pashinyan as a mere populist.[7] Pashinyan's new government included multiple liberal western NGO activists being appointed to senior positions,[8] as well as supporters from the Velvet Revolution who had no previous political experience.[9][10]

Pashinyan led Armenia through the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, the most recent and significant outbreak of violence due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia with the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh and its neighbor Azerbaijan. The war, which was ended after 44 days of fighting by a trilateral ceasefire agreement signed by Pashinyan on 9 November 2020, resulted in significant human, material and territorial losses for the Armenian side. Pashinyan's government was criticized within Armenia for its management of the war.[11] Following the war, Pashinyan was accused of being a traitor and faced protests and calls for his resignation.[12] Despite the protests and a declaration by 40 high-ranking military officers calling for his resignation (which Pashinyan described as a coup attempt), Pashinyan resisted calls to hand over political power.[13][14] On 25 April 2021, Pashinyan announced his formal resignation to allow snap elections to be held in June, although he remained as acting prime minister in the leadup to the elections.[15] His party won the 2021 election, receiving more than half of all votes.[16]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Arshaguni weekly was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference eviction plan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference RFE12tough was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Vonberg, Judith (8 May 2018). "Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan elected prime minister". CNN. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Armenia election: PM Nikol Pashinyan wins by landslide". BBC News. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  6. ^ "NATIONS IN TRANSIT 2020" (PDF). www.freedomhouse.org.
  7. ^ "Former Chief of Armenian Armed Forces Lambasts Pashinyan; Calls Him a 'Populist Showman'". Hetq. 5 June 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kucera elections was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference makunts1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference makunts2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference hetq127361 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Rival Rallies In Yerevan As Armenia Reels From Nagorno-Karabakh Truce", RFE/RL, retrieved 21 November 2020
  13. ^ "Armenia's armed forces demand resignation of PM and government: Ifax". Reuters. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  14. ^ ռ/կ, Ազատություն (25 February 2021). "Armenian Military Demands Government's Resignation". «Ազատ Եվրոպա/Ազատություն» Ռադիոկայան. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  15. ^ "Armenian PM Pashinyan resigns to trigger snap election". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Armenia: Pashinyan wins election with over half the votes". www.dw.com. Deutsche Welle. 21 June 2021.