Armenian ex-president, arrested tycoon to run in 2026 elections along with PM Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced his candidacy from the ruling Civil Contract party for the 2026 parliamentary elections.

Former President Robert Kocharyan, ex-ombudsman Arman Tatoyan, as well as the “Our Way” movement (led ideologically by detained oligarch Samvel Karapetyan), have also declared their intention to participate in the elections, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

Pashinyan framed his bid as a mandate for "peace, sovereignty, and reform" in the wake of the August 2025 U.S.-brokered peace accord with Azerbaijan. He pledged to prioritise economic recovery, Western integration, and military modernisation.

For the record, Armenia's upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 7, 2026, mark the first regularly scheduled national vote since 2017 and the first full-term contest under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's leadership since the 2021 snap elections. This vote will determine the composition of the unicameral National Assembly (parliament), which in turn nominates the prime minister—the country's most powerful position in its parliamentary republic system established by the 2015 constitutional reforms.

By Khagan Isayev