The Conservative Party () is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. It was founded in 1991.

History

The Conservative Party was founded in 1991. The current charter of the party was adopted during the 5th party congress on 1 November 2003. The Conservative Party had been a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), and some members participated in the

2012 Armenian parliamentary election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

s under the ANC's electoral list. The party opted to leave the ANC in 2013. Several party members participated in the 2013 Yerevan City Council election, under the

Heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset A heritage asset is an item which has value because of its contribution to a nation's society, knowledge and/or culture. Such items are usually physical assets, but some countries also ...

party's Barev Yerevan alliance. The alliance came in third place, winning 8.48% of the vote. The Conservative Party confirmed that it would participate in the

2021 Armenian parliamentary election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

s as part of the Free Homeland Alliance. Following the election, the Free Homeland Alliance received just 0.32% of the popular vote, failing to win any seats in the National Assembly. The Conservative Party currently does not have any representation in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

and acts as an extra-parliamentary force. On 18 July 2022, Mikael Hayrapetyan resigned from the position of chairman of the Conservative Party. Hayrapetyan had been serving as chairman since 1998. On 9 January 2024, Hayk Mirzoyan was elected as party Chairman.

Ideology

The party supports strengthening Armenia's state security, protection of the Armenian language, culture and Christian traditions, civil rights, freedom of conscience and property rights. Furthermore, the party believes in developing a strong

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, civil society and European legal model, good neighborly relations, and a highly developed educational system and economy. The party proclaims that state intervention in daily activities of its citizens should be minimal. The party opposes the concept of

Eurasianism Eurasianism ( ) is a Political sociology, socio-political movement in Russia that emerged in the early 20th century under the Russian Empire, which states that Russia does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the Geop ...

. The party also seeks to counter Russian influence in Armenia and opposes any Russian military bases in Armenia or Artsakh. The party has stated that Russian influence has kept Armenia from developing closer ties with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Following the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involvi ...

, the party accused Russia and Turkey of collaborating against Armenia. The party also called for Armenian Prime Minister

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician who is serving as the 16th and current Prime Minister of Armenia, prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in ...

to resign. During the 2020–2021 Armenian protests, the party accused

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and Turkey for trying to destabilize Armenia and called for Armenia to develop a stronger strategic partnership with the United States.

Activities

On 12 November 2013, the party stated that Armenia is being coerced to join a

Customs Union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set u ...

with Russia, during an interview. On 22 December 2020, the Conservative Party, the Democratic Homeland Party and the Union for National Self-Determination held a joint meeting discussing the political situation in Armenia. On 26 February 2021, the party released a statement along with the Armenian Constructive Party and the Democratic Homeland Party, condemning the signing of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement. The three parties called for an end to Russian-Turkish interference in Armenia and Artsakh. On 15 April 2021, the party signed a joint declaration with eight other political parties calling on the President of Armenia to ensure democracy and the Constitution of Armenia is upheld in the country during the 2020–2021 Armenian protests. On 3 August 2021, the Conservative Party, the European Party of Armenia and the Sovereign Armenia Party released a joint statement calling for the Armenian government to demand the CSTO military alliance to cease selling weapons to Azerbaijan and Turkey. The statement also called for the withdrawal of Armenia from the CSTO, should the alliance ignore Armenia's security concerns.

References

{{Armenian political parties Political parties established in 1991 Political parties in Armenia Conservative parties in Armenia Pro-European political parties in Armenia

History

Ideology

Activities

See also

References