Elections

This article is part of the Armenia Season on commonspace.eu between 1 May and 15 June 2026. The first Armenia-EU summit was held in Yerevan on 5 May 2026. Alex Verge, was commonspace.eu special correspondent at the summit in Yerevan, and he filed this report: In a landmark diplomatic moment, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hosted the first-ever bilateral summit between Armenia and the European Union at the presidential residence in Yerevan on 5 May. While it did not deliver any major announcements, the summit reflected the ongoing deepening of the bilateral  relation and a show of support from Europe for Pashinyan, who is seeking re-election in parliamentary elections in June. EU Commission President Ursual von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were representing Europe at the summit. Both gave significant credit to Pashinyan personally for his role in bringing Armenia closer to the EU, underlining shared values and commitments to democracy, rule of law, peace and stability.  The current prime minister has indeed overseen a significant rapprochement. In 2025, the Armenian parliament adopted a law that officially mandated the government to pursue EU integration. Accession remains a very distant prospect however. Pashinyan himself commented at the summit that Armenia faced a long road before it could align itself to EU standards, including regarding judiciary independence, and that there was no guarantee that the EU wanted to expand further. He added that a deeper bilateral relationship was highly valuable in and of itself. Alongside the European Political Community gathering that took place the day before, the EU summit will have contributed to the international credibility of Pashinyan and may therefore serve his re-election prospects well. Domestically, it remains to be seen whether Pashinyan will receive similar support from the Armenian electorate come the June parliamentary elections. Outside the presidential palace, a crowd was gathered to call for the release of Armenian prisoners of war held by Azerbaijan - one of the number of issues where large parts of Armenian society have been critical of their current government. Much more than this weekend’s summits, it will be the elections in June that will shape the trajectory of Armenia’s foreign policy. This article is part of the Armenia Season on commonspace.eu between 1 May and 15 June 2026. The first Armenia-EU summit was held in Yerevan on 5 May 2026. Alex Verge, was commonspace.eu special correspondent at the summit in Yerevan, and he filed this report. Press the image to read the full report.

As part of our "Armenia Season" on commonspace.eu, journalist Alex Vergé , writing from Yerevan, reflects on the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia. He says that "the attention around the elections, in particular from foreign powers, highlights the geopolitical stakes. Russia wishes to discredit the current administration as a means to safeguard its position as Armenia’s preponderant partner. The EU, in turn, will be looking to avoid a repeat of developments in Georgia since 2024, where democratic backsliding has led to a significant deterioration of relations and effectively halted the country’s accession process." He adds, that " the outcome of the vote remains very uncertain at this stage". A public opinion survey commissioned by the International Republican Institute in early February 2026 indicated that 24% of respondents said they would vote for Pashinyan and Civil Contract if an election were held the following week, with the next highest level of support expressed at around 9% for Karapetyan and the Strong Armenia Alliance, and 30% of respondents stating they were undecided. It appears that momentum may be gathering behind Pashinyan, who has been on the campaign trail for several weeks already. Polling by the local news outlet EVNReport in February-March indicated that the prime minister’s approval ratings stood at 47%, up from 36% based on a first wave of polling in January-February. Others remain more measured in their assessments. Eric Hacopian, the leading political commentator at the independent local news outlet CIVILNET, says that while it is clear that the administration has the largest minority support, it is equally clear that they do not have more than half of voters’ support. While this raises the possibility of the need for coalition partners to secure a parliamentary majority, Hacopian suggests that the confrontational campaigning approach of the ruling party will likely have alienated potential partners. In any case, the elections are set to mark a major democratic moment in Armenia’s history. Michael Zoyan, the historian and former MP, pushing back on arguments that the Pashinyan administration is overseeing democratic backsliding, stressed that Armenia was still a “young democracy.” Like many other democratic countries, he added, it faces the challenge of balancing between upholding democratic freedoms and the need to address challenges to democratic governance. (Click image to read the full commentary).