The My Step Alliance (, IKD) was a political alliance in

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 ...

formed by the Civil Contract party, the Mission Party and various independent representatives of civil society. It was formed in August 2018, before the 2018 Yerevan City Council election. The leader of the alliance was the Prime Minister of Armenia

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 ...

. Despite its dissolution as a national party in May 2021, the My Step Alliance operated in the Yerevan City Council until the end of its mandate in September 2023.

History

On 31 March, at the beginning of the 2018 Armenian revolution,

and a group of supporters began a march from Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city. The campaign, named "My Step", was declared with the intention to prevent Serzh Sargsyan's election as prime minister on 17 April. On 23 September 2018, the alliance participated in the 2018 Yerevan City Council election with Hayk Marutyan as a candidate for

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and won 57 seats out of 65 in the Yerevan City Council. The alliance ran in 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 ...

. They won 88 of 132 seats, gaining a ruling majority 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 ...

. The alliance dissolved in May 2021, following an announcement that Civil Contract 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 independently. The alliance, however, continued governing in the Yerevan City Council until the end of its mandate. Following the 2023 Yerevan City Council elections, the alliance had completely dissolved.

Ideology

The coalition was perceived as maintaining a big tent ideology rather than supporting any one particular political position. The coalition's main focus was on anti-corruption efforts while developing Armenia's civil society and

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 ...

and promoting the economic development of the country. However, Nikol Pashinyan has been described as a centrist politician with a liberal outlook. In terms of foreign policy, before coming to power, Pashinyan was a skeptic of Russia. However, following his victory, Pashinyan changed his official opinion and opted to maintain strong relations between Armenia and Russia. Despite this, Pashinyan also supported the development of bilateral relations 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.

Composition

The alliance was composed of the following parties, as well as some independents.

Electoral record

Parliamentary elections

Local elections

Yerevan City Council elections

References

{{Armenian Political Parties 2018 establishments in Armenia Centrist parties in Europe Political parties established in 2018 Neoliberal parties Defunct political party alliances in Armenia Liberal parties in Armenia Political parties disestablished in 2023