The Green Party of Armenia (), also known as the Social-Ecological Party is a

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

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 ...

History

The party was established in February 1999 by Armenak Dovlatyan, a former member of the

Armenian National Congress The Armenian National Congress () is an Armenian political party led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and was formed in 2008. Its direct predecessor was the Pan-Armenian National Movement. It is often abbreviated as ՀԱԿ or HAK, in k ...

party. The party currently does not have any political 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 An extra-parliamentary opposition, also referred to as simply extra-parliamentary or extraparliamentary, is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections. Many social movements could ...

force.

Ideology

The party is Armenia's main green political force and actively campaigns for greater environmental protection throughout the country. However, party leader Dovaltyan, confirmed that environmentalism is not the only issue important to the party. The party encourages economic development, reducing levels of outward emigration, and supports greater unity between Armenia and the

Armenian Diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

. During 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 ...

, Dovaltyan called for an end to foreign interference in Armenia and to increase Armenian support to the

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh cont ...

Electoral record

The party did not directly participate 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 ...

, however the party was represented through its political association with the

party, who gained 7 seats in the

. Prior to the

2013 Armenian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 18 February 2013. In the run-up to the elections, Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the second largest parliamentary party Prosperous Armenia, withdrew from ...

, the party announced it would not participate due to concerns over

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

. The party endorsed

Hrant Bagratyan Hrant Ararati Bagratyan (; born 18 October 1958) is an Armenian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Armenia from 2 February 1993 until 4 November 1996, and a former member of the Pan-Armenian National Movement political party. He is the c ...

, leader of the Freedom Party. The party boycotted the

2017 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 2 April 2017. They were the first elections after a 2015 Armenian constitutional referendum, constitutional referendum in 2015 that approved reforms for the country to become a parliamentary republi ...

. The party did participate in the

2018 Yerevan City Council election Yerevan City Council elections were held on 23 September 2018. The snap election was triggered after the resignation of former mayor Taron Margaryan amid the aftermath of the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution. Well-known comedian and actor Hayk Maru ...

as part of the "Yerevan Society Alliance", with the Alliance of Ideological Liberals. The alliance finished 9th place, taking less than 1% of the popular vote. As such, the party failed to gain any seats in the

Yerevan City Council The Yerevan City Council () is the lawmaking body of the city of Yerevan, the capital and largest city of Armenia. It has 65 members elected by party-list proportional representation system, headed by the Mayor of Yerevan. The council monitors p ...

. Prior to the

2018 Armenian parliamentary election Snap parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 9 December 2018, as none of the parties in the National Assembly (Armenia), National Assembly were able to put forward and then elect a candidate for Prime Minister in the two-week period follo ...

, the party announced it would participate in the elections and that it would be open to discussing options to form

political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

's with other parties. Ultimately however, the party failed to register and did not participate. Following the election, Dovaltyan stated that he was generally pleased with newly elected 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 ...

and hoped that the spirit of the 2018 Armenian velvet revolution would continue. The Green 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 The Free Homeland Alliance () is a political alliance between five political parties in Armenia. History The alliance was founded in May 2021 and subsequently announced its intention to participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections. M ...

. Following the election, the Free Homeland Alliance received just 0.32% of the popular vote, failing to win any seats in the National Assembly.

Activities

In 2011, the Green Party of Armenia participated in the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–Eur ...

Conference held in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In October 2011, party members voiced strong opposition to the construction of a

Hydro electric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also ...

dam at the Trchkan waterfall in northern Armenia. Party members were concerned that the 25-metre waterfall and the surrounding forests would be at risk if the new dam was built at the confluence of two rivers between the Shirak and Lori regions. Due to public pressure, Prime Minister

Tigran Sargsyan Tigran Sureni Sargsyan (; born 29 January 1960) is an Armenian political figure who was Prime Minister of Armenia from 2008 to 2014. Previously he was Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia from 1998 to 2008. After leaving office as prime minis ...

declared that work on the dam was to stop and that the Trchkan waterfall would be granted protected status. In March 2012, the party called on the Government of Armenia to increase the amount of protected green spaces in the country, including in the capital,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. Also in 2012, the party released a statement calling for

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

efforts to be increased and to limit the spread of

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

. In November 2015, the Green Party of Armenia participated in a

Global Greens The Global Greens (GG) is an international network of political parties and movements which work to implement the Global Greens Charter. It consists of various national green political parties, partner networks, and other organizations associat ...

initiative, in which the party signed a joint statement along with 40 other Green parties across the world, pledging to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

. In December 2020, Armenak Dovlatyan met with the President of Armenia,

Armen Sargsyan Armen Sargsyan (Russian: Армен Нагапетович Саркисян; Armenian: Արմեն Նահապետի Սարգսյան; 20 September 1978 or 1979 – 3 February 2025) was an Armenian-born Russian gangster and businessman that was ...

to discuss the political situation in the country.

References

External links