European Friends of Armenia (www.EuFoA.org) is proud to publish today its new guide Armenia 2017: An introduction to the party-political landscape. For five years, the first version of this guide was used extensively by EU officials, election observers, international academics and journalists. Several of these asked us to prepare a new version for the upcoming elections of 2 April, reflecting all the recent changes. Answering that demand, we are providing a brief summary for each Armenian political force running in the elections of 2 April, including the new formations, providing:

key background on the party’s (or bloc’s) history, composition and leaders

party program, with a focus on economic policy and foreign policy

a special view on EU policies and affiliations

The guide also offers a short and understandable introduction to the new Armenian electoral code, which in itself is quite complex but also an exciting change over the past semi-proportional system.

“I was surprised to learn that the Armenian system now has an ultra-modern 25% gender quota. There were more discoveries during our research, so I’m sure this paper will not only be useful but actually an interesting read.” commented Dr Michael Kambeck, Acting EuFoA Director.

The guide is now available in English on our new website: http://eufoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Armenia2017PartypoliticalLandscapeGuide_28March-2017.pdf