Nikol Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan – Prime Minister of Armenia since 2018. In June 2021 and 2026, his party "Civil Contract" won the parliamentary elections.

Who is Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan is a former journalist and Armenian opposition politician, leader of the "Yelk" faction in the National Assembly of Armenia since May 18, 2017. 

He was born on June 1, 1975. He became known as a politician during the 2007 parliamentary elections: he was number one on the list of the "Impeachment" bloc, which demanded the resignation of President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.

In 2008 – a member of the campaign headquarters of Armenian presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan. After the riots of March 1-2, 2008, in Yerevan, he was put on the wanted list. In 2009 he surrendered to the authorities. In January 2010 he was sentenced to 7 years on charges of organising mass riots. Later the court halved the sentence, and in May 2011 he was released under an amnesty in honour of the 20th anniversary of Armenia's independence.

In 2012 he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia under the proportional electoral system from the party bloc "Armenian National Congress". Since 2013 – a member of "Civil Contract". Since 2016 – a member of the "Yelk" party. In 2017 he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia from the "Yelk" party. In September 2017 he ran for mayor of Yerevan and came second with 21% of the vote.

In April 2018, he was one of the organisers of the movement against the appointment of the country's former president Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister. The latter was nevertheless appointed to the post, but after protest sentiment intensified he resigned. This happened, in particular, after Pashinyan's release: the day before, the police had detained him during a march in Yerevan.