Media: Armenian ex-president to nominate his son to lead 2026 election list

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan intends to nominate his son, Levon Kocharyan, a member of parliament from the Armenia faction, as the top candidate on the party list for the 2026 parliamentary elections.

According to the publication, Levon Kocharyan has been actively travelling across the country in recent months, meeting with citizens, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Yerevan-based newspaper Hraparak.

“It will be impossible to repeat the previous scenario, when the second president headed the list and his son was placed around the 50th position. The team understands that the results of 2021 cannot be replicated, and in such a case, including both father and son in the top ten would be inappropriate,” the newspaper wrote.

At his last press conference, Kocharyan stated that the composition of the electoral list would depend on sociological data — specifically, on which candidates have the highest ratings, adding that the final decision will be made in January or February.

The former president announced on October 7 that his political team would participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

For the record, Armenia's 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