One of Armenia's two opposition parties represented in the new parliament, the "Bright Armenia" party, has been accepted as an associate member of the Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), one of Europe's big political families. The decision was taken at a meeting of ALDE's Executive Council in Berlin on 9 February. "Bright Armenia" was represented at the Berlin meeting by its party leader Edmon Marukian.
The European website, Euractiv, reported that at the Berlin meeting a decision on the membership of three new political parties was discussed.
Italy's Più Europa and Iceland's Viðreian were accepted as full members, whilst Bright Armenia party was granted affiliate membership. According to Euractiv, the current ALDE member, the Armenian National Congress, said that Bright Armenia had not been a supporter of the so-called Velvet Revolution. "However, it has benefited from the political upheaval in Armenia, securing just over 6% of the vote in the recent December elections that were dominated by new prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan", the website said.
source: commonspace with Euractiv
photo: Edmon Marukian leader of the bright Armenia party, taking a selfie during the meeting of the Executive Council of ALDE in Berlin on 9 February 2019 (picture courtesy of ALDE twitter account @ALDEparty.)
