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1 [1] (January 16, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govycz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: $ Congressional Research Service .~ Informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 January 16, 2019 Armenia's Velvet Revolution In December 2018, snap parliamentary elections strengthened the legitimacy of Armenia's new prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in May 2018 in what supporters called a velvet revolution. The elections unseated a semi-autocratic ruling party that had governed Armenia for almost 20 years but now failed to enter parliament. Armenia, a small, landlocked country in the South Caucasus (population 3 million), is dependent on Russia for security, trade, and investment, but it also seeks closer relations with the United States and Europe. Whether Armenia's change of government will lead to further integration with the West is unclear. For now, Armenia's government says it intends to retain its security alliance and economic partnership with Russia while pursuing Western- leaning democracy and governance reforms. Peaceful Transfer of Power In April-May 2018, mass protests were prompted by public discontent with the efforts of Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia's president for a decade, to extend his rule by becoming prime minister, a position he held for one week. Sargsyan's maneuver was in line with constitutional reforms from 2015 that made Armenia's prime minister the country's most powerful executive. In 2018, Armenia's previously strong presidency became a largely ceremonial position filled by parliament. After Sargsyan resigned, the then-ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) rejected the bid of Pashinyan, aged 43, a former journalist, opposition leader, and parliamentary deputy, to serve as prime minister. This led to a mass general strike, after which the RPA consented to Pashinyan's candidacy. Snap Parliamentary Elections To secure a parliamentary majority, Pashinyan called for early elections to Armenia's unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. To hold the elections, Pashinyan was required to step down as prime minister in mid-October and serve in an acting capacity. Elections were held on December 9, 2018, under conditions of genuine competition, according to international observers. Pashinyan's My Step coalition won a sizeable victory, with 70% of the vote. In the last parliamentary elections in April 2017, an opposition alliance that included Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won 9% of the vote. Two other parties entered the National Assembly. In second place with around 8% of the vote was the center-right Prosperous Armenia, led by Gagik Tsarukyan, a wealthy businessman whose party was part of an RPA-led ruling coalition from 2007 to 2012 but supported Pashinyan's candidacy as prime minister in May 2018. The third party to enter the National Assembly, with 6% of the vote, was the pro-Western Bright Armenia, which was previously in alliance with Pashinyan's Civil Contract. The RPA failed to clear the 5% threshold to enter parliament. The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, or Dashnaktsutyun), frequently a junior coalition partner of the RPA, also did not enter parliament. The National Assembly was elected under new rules established before the 2017 elections and designed to ensure that a party or coalition that wins the most votes receives at least 54% of seats but no more than 67%. As a result, My Step received two-thirds of parliamentary seats (88 out of 132). Prosperous Armenia received 20% of the seats, and Bright Armenia received 14%. Figure I. Republic of Armenia Source: Graphic created by CRS. Map information generated by Hannah Fischer using data from Department of State and ArcWorld. Combatting Corruption and Abuse Since May 2018, the Pashinyan government has sought to expose high-level corruption, which observers consider to have been a major driver of the anti-Sargsyan protests. The government charged or arrested several prominent politicians and their associates, including close relatives of Sargsyan and members of parliament, for corruption-related offenses and other crimes. Authorities also arrested ex-president Robert Kocharyan on charges of overthrowing Armenia's constitutional order, in connection with his administration's use of lethal force in 2008 against demonstrators protesting electoral fraud after a hltps://crsreports.congress.go

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