The ORO Alliance (), also known as the Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian Alliance, was an

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 ...

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 ...

formed by the merger of the

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

and

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 ...

Parties and the former

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Seyran Ohanyan Seyran Musheghi Ohanyan (; born 1 July 1962) is an Armenian military officer and politician currently serving as a deputy in the National Assembly of Armenia. He served as Defence Minister of Armenia from 14 April 2008 until 3 October 2016. A na ...

to run in 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 ...

History

The alliance was established on 13 February 2016. The name of the party reflects the three politicians who signed the memorandum founding the alliance. The surnames of Seyran Ohanyan (former

Defence minister of Armenia The defence minister of Armenia () is the head of the country's Ministry of Defence, who is charged with the political leadership of the Armed Forces of Armenia. The position was originally created in 1918 and was re-established in January 1992 f ...

), Raffi Hovannisian (Heritage Party Leader), and Vartan Oskanian (Unity Party Leader), were used as an acronym to name the alliance. Prior to the election, the alliance stated that they would be open to working with all other

political parties 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 ideological or p ...

within Armenia for the betterment of the country. However, the alliance is very critical of the

Republican Party of Armenia The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA, ; , ''HHK'') is a National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Armenia, political party in Armenia led by the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. It was the first polit ...

and stated that they would refuse to work with them. Meanwhile, the

Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party () is an Armenian National conservatism, national conservative political party that was founded in September 2018 in the wake of the country's 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution, Velvet Revolution. Name The party's ...

, the Social Justice Party, and the People's Party announced their support to the ORO Alliance. The Third Republic Party announced its intention to join the ORO Alliance, however, the party ultimately decided not to cooperate with the alliance.

Electoral record

The alliance participated in the

. Following the election, the alliance received just 2.07% of the popular vote, failing to win any seats within 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 ...

. Following the election, the alliance claimed that the results were rigged. The alliance has not participated in any subsequent elections, however, the alliance confirmed that all three of the leaders would continue to work together 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. The alliance ceased most of its political activities following the 2017 elections.

Ideology

Prior to the election, the ORO Alliance held a rally in central Yerevan calling for radical reforms in Armenia, including fighting corruption and tackling the economic mismanagement of the country. The alliance favors establishing a competitive liberal market economy in Armenia, as well as, improving

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

for all citizens. The alliance also supports the independence of 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 ...

and a peaceful settlement to the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...

. In regards to foreign policy, Heritage and the Union party are both considerably

Pro-Western The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

and

Pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

, and support balanced relations with both 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 ...

and

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 ...

References

External links

ORO Alliance on Facebook
2016 establishments in Armenia Defunct political party alliances in Armenia Political parties established in 2016 {{Armenia-party-stub

History

Electoral record

Ideology

See also

References

External links