Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP; , abbreviated as ԲՀԿ BHK), is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

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 by businessman

Gagik Tsarukyan Gagik Kolyayi Tsarukyan (), also known as Dodi Gago (), is an Armenian businessman, politician, and former athlete. Tsarukyan is the founder and leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party. He also owns various large-scale businesses and is b ...

on 30 April 2004, when the constituent congress of the party took place. Ideologically, the party is positioned as

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

on the political spectrum, it advocates

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, closer ties with Russia, and regarding 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 ...

it is

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

, while on

social issues A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

they are traditionalist. Armenia's second president

Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second Presiden ...

was instrumental in creation of the party, with some claiming that Kocharyan himself established it. Kocharyan's influence and role in the party is a subject of debate. In 2012, "most analysts" believed Kocharyan was "closely involved in the party." Some "believe that Kocharyan is the secret leader of the party", while others believe he has no influence over PAP.

Ideology

The party maintains a

Pro-Russian Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...

ideology and is the only outspokenly

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

party in Armenia. The party advocates for the preservation of national and traditional values, families, and church and state relations as the most important priorities. The party also claims to support building stronger democratic and neighborly relations within the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

region and with

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Despite being a pro-Russian and eurosceptic party, Prosperous Armenia does believe in maintaining strong relations and economic partnership with the

Power base

According to sociologist Karen Sargsyan, the party base largely consists of provincial rural population.

Kotayk Province Kotayk (, ), is a provinces of Armenia, province (''Administrative divisions of Armenia, marz'') of Armenia. It is located at the central part of the country. Its capital is Hrazdan and the largest city is Abovyan. It is named after the Kotayk c ...

is widely considered its stronghold. During the 2012 parliamentary election, Prosperous Armenia came first and won around 47.5% of the vote in that province, well above the national average of 30%. While in the 28th electoral district, which includes the city of

Abovyan Abovyan or Abovian ( ) is a town and urban municipal community in Armenia within the Kotayk Province. It is located northeast of Yerevan and southeast of the province centre Hrazdan. As of the 2022 census, the population of the town was 46,434 ...

and several surrounding villages, the party won over 71%.

Electoral record

The party debuted in the

2007 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 12 May 2007. 1,364 candidates ran for the 131 seats, 41 of which were constituency seats with the remaining 90 being filled by a proportional party-list system. The electoral threshold was five per ...

s, winning 25 seats and 15.1% of the votes, making it the second largest political party in parliament. 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, it more than doubled its share of the vote to 30.12%, winning 35 seats and solidifying its position as the main opposition party. 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 ...

, the party participated as part of the

Tsarukyan Alliance Tsarukyan Alliance (; ''Tsarukyan Dashink'') was a liberal political alliance of three political parties in Armenia: Prosperous Armenia, Alliance Party and Mission Party. It was formed on 18 January 2017, before the 2017 Armenian parliamentary ...

. The alliance won 31 seats. Following 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 ...

, Prosperous Armenia lost five seats but was still the second largest party 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 one of the two official opposition parties, the other being

Bright Armenia Bright Armenia () is a classical liberal political party in Armenia founded on 12 December 2015. History In 2017, Bright Armenia launched an educational program aimed at advancing and promoting liberal politics, known as the Institute of Libera ...

. In May 2021, the party confirmed 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. Following the election, the party won just 3.95% of the popular vote, losing all political representation in the National Assembly. The party currently 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.

2018 Armenian parliamentary election BHK

Parliamentary elections

Presidential elections

Local elections

Yerevan City Council elections

Activities

In 2014, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Liberal Party signed a cooperation agreement. On 9 November 2020, the party signed a joint declaration with the other member parties of the

Homeland Salvation Movement The Homeland Salvation Movement () was an Armenian political alliance, consisting of several opposition political parties, led by Vazgen Manukyan. History The alliance was established on 3 December 2020 from the dissatisfaction of the Governme ...

calling on 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 2020−2021 Armenian protests (also known as the March of Dignity; ) were a series of protests that began following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement on 10 November 2020. After Prime Minister ...

References

{{Armenian political parties 2004 establishments in Armenia European Conservatives and Reformists Party member parties Conservative parties in Armenia Political parties established in 2004 Political parties in Armenia Social conservative parties Eurosceptic parties in Armenia Russophilic parties in Armenia