The 2026 elections are a new milestone in the political development of Armenia. The president to the prime minister.
08-07-2026 18:54 Armenia Press release
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with President Vahagn Khachaturyan.
President Vahagn Khachaturyan - Mr. Prime Minister, I am glad for this meeting. We have had opportunities to talk about the elections, of course, we have talked many times, but it is very important to speak officially and publicly so that our assessments are presented in this format as well.
First of all, I want to congratulate all of us on the occasion of holding the next nationwide democratic elections in the Republic of Armenia, because what happened in 2021, since then everyone, excuse me for saying it this way, but in any case, thinks that it will be another extraordinary election, not a regular one, but extraordinary elections will take place. But life has shown that when the government has clear approaches, has a program, has goals, and implements them, political institutions and state institutions work, and we have reached the point of regular elections, which was very important.
In this regard, the 2026 elections are a new milestone in the political development of the Republic of Armenia. We must also assess this, and in this regard, it was very important that our citizens listened and actively participated. Taking this opportunity, I want to express my gratitude to all citizens of the Republic of Armenia who actively participated in the elections and cast their votes for the political force that today constitutes the majority in the parliament. In this regard, I want to personally congratulate you and the "Civil Contract" party for earning the trust of our citizens, and with the right of the majority vote, the National Assembly has been formed today, which will also lead us in the coming five years.
But I want to draw attention to an important circumstance, because I myself have long been engaged in the relationship between society and government purely at a scientific level and wanted to understand how this happens and how it is realized. In this case, these elections were the result of that, on the one hand, it was an assessment of five years of work, on the other hand, it was an assessment of the expectations that the "Civil Contract" presented to the people during this pre-election campaign.
And now the "Civil Contract" party has received votes from citizens, which will guide the Government, the emerging authority, which will direct us towards a future where we, that is, the voters, are confident that we will have a safer environment in Armenia, we will truly become a prosperous country, and all those programs that have been presented will become a reality.
The last circumstance - I want to particularly emphasize this - is that we are indeed holding elections in peaceful conditions, peace has been established in Armenia. We have been able, the government, I mean, in this case, the Government and you, with your balanced foreign policy, to achieve a situation where we no longer have contentious issues with our neighbors that could create warlike situations. On the contrary, today a situation has been created where we actually have the opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with our neighbors, establish friendly relations, and be useful to each other.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan - Thank you, esteemed Mr. President, for your congratulations, and I am glad for this meeting.
Yes, the regular parliamentary elections took place, and the "Civil Contract" has a majority of mandates in the parliament and will form a Government. Of course, the elections were quite intense, and this was also very important for us and for me as a platform to activate direct communication with the people, the citizens, and we also received a lot of information during this time about the processes taking place regarding citizens' assessments, impressions, and opinions.
It is certainly clear that citizens support the agenda of peace, and the established peace has played a significant role in citizens' voting, and in my impression, of course, the school construction programs, kindergarten construction programs, the capital investments that the Government is implementing on a large scale, and of course the social reforms. But, of course, as a result of the elections, we have also faced a number of issues regarding which there is tension and criticism among citizens directed at the Government, the state, and personally at me.
Of course, these problems primarily relate to the field of justice and fairness. As uncomfortable as it is for me to say this, because I understand that the following question arises, why these issues have not been resolved in eight years. Here I certainly have explanations and have clarified, including due to the constitutional immunities that we have in certain judicial areas.
But overall, of course, these elections revealed new challenges, the widespread distribution of electoral bribes highlighted the vulnerabilities of our state, which we must inevitably think about. And our response to both the positive and negative phenomena that emerged during the elections is as follows: we must continue and activate the reform process, and on the contrary, take the opportunity and restart our entire reform agenda starting from the anti-corruption struggle to institutional and economic reforms. Of course, for this we have received sufficient energy and mandate from the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. And it is clear to me that we need to revisit our reform agenda, see what has not been sufficiently effective, and where our strategic issues have not been resolved, and try to make additional factors and decisions to solve those problems.
One thing is clear, democracy in the Republic of Armenia is irreversible. By democracy, we primarily understand that power belongs to the people. Of course, it is concerning that attempts have been made to take power from the people, but it is also important that, nevertheless, those manifestations have not been able to achieve the desired results for them. On the contrary, they have revealed the field for us, and we can act more targeted and effectively to exclude such phenomena in future elections.
Of course, there is also the issue of further improving the electoral system, ensuring the transparency of funding for parties, media, organizations, etc. But, of course, our main pre-election message is to ensure an average annual economic growth of 6%, and we must work around that. And, to be honest, I consider that realistic, also seeing and feeling the disposition of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia to work and create prosperity for their families and thus for the country, which is, of course, very important.
I must say that after the elections we are noticing economic activation, which also means that the results of the elections have brought a certain enthusiasm. Although during the elections, you know, certain problems arose related to the EAEU, nevertheless, where problems arise, those problems also bring new opportunities, including transforming the balanced and stabilizing foreign policy into a balanced and stabilizing economic policy, the phenomena of which we are seeing. This does not mean that there will be no difficulties; I believe that difficulties always exist and will exist every day; the issue is how capable we are of managing those difficulties. I am confident that we will manage successfully, including with your support.
I also want to thank you for your support to the Government's activities in the previous period. In the near future, of course, we will have the opportunity to talk about the newly formed Government, and we must also adopt the program of the newly formed Government and, of course, implement it. Thank you.
* This text was automatically translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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