Bright Armenia ( hy, Լուսավոր Հայաստան, translit=Lusavor Hayastan) is a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

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 Liberal Politics The Institute of Liberal Politics (ILP) ( hy, Լիբերալ քաղաքականության ինստիտուտ, translit=Liberal k’aghak’akanut’yan institut), also known as the School of Liberal Politics is a non-governmental educational an ...

(ILP); it is an affiliated member of the

European Liberal Forum The European Liberal Forum, abbreviated to ELF, is a political foundation at the European level affiliated to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. Founded in 2007, ELF brings together liberal think thanks, political foundatio ...

. In the

2017 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 2 April 2017. They were the first elections after a constitutional referendum in 2015 that approved reforms for the country to become a parliamentary republic. The result was a victory for the rulin ...

and the

2017 Yerevan City Council election Yerevan City Council elections were held on 14 May 2017. The Republican Party of Armenia won 71.25% of the total vote, the Way Out Alliance won 21%, while Yerkir Tsirani won 7.75%. Following the elections, Yerevan City Council elected Taron Mar ...

, the party took part in the elections as part of the

Way Out Alliance The Way Out Alliance ( hy, «Ելք» դաշինք, ԵԼՔ; ''YELK Dashink, YELQ'') or Yelk Alliance or simply Yelk or Way Out was a liberal political alliance of three political parties in Armenia: Civil Contract, Bright Armenia and the Hanrap ...

, gaining few seats. In the

2018 Yerevan City Council election Yerevan City Council elections were held on 23 September 2018. The snap election was trigged after the resignation of former mayor Taron Margaryan amid the aftermath of the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution. Well-known comedian and actor Hayk Maruty ...

, the party ran as a part of the

Bright Alliance The Bright Alliance ( hy, «Լույս» դաշինք, ԼՈՒՅՍ; ''LUYS Dashink, LUYS'') was a liberal political alliance of two political parties in Armenia: the Bright Armenia party and Republic party. It was formed on 28 August 2018, before t ...

. The alliance won three seats in the Yerevan City Council, with two seats taken by Bright Armenia and one seat taken by the

Hanrapetutyun Party The Hanrapetutyun Party ( hy, Հանրապետություն կուսակցություն, lit=Republic Party) is a pro-European political party in Armenia. The party was founded by ex-members from the Republican Party of Armenia and members of th ...

. 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 were able to put forward and then elect a candidate for Prime Minister in the two-week period following the resignation of incum ...

, Bright Armenia became the third 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 repre ...

and one of the two official opposition parties, the other being

Prosperous Armenia Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP; hy, Բարգավաճ Հայաստան կուսակցություն, Bargavatch Hayastan kusaktsut’yun, abbreviated as ԲՀԿ BHK), is a conservative political party in Armenia. It was founded by businessman Gagik ...

. In May 2021, the party confirmed it would participate in the

2021 Armenian parliamentary election Snap parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 20 June 2021. The elections had initially been scheduled for 9 December 2023, but were called earlier due to a political crisis following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War and an alleged attempted ...

s. Following the election, the party gained just 1.2% of the popular vote, losing all political representation in the National Assembly. The party currently acts as an

extra-parliamentary An extra-parliamentary opposition is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections. Many social movements could be categorized as an extra-parliamentary opposition. Europe The German ...

force.

Political position

Bright Armenia is a liberal, pro-European political party.

Edmon Marukyan Edmon Hrachiki Marukyan ( hy, Էդմոն Հրաչիկի Մարուքյան) is an Armenian lawyer and politician currently serving as ambassador-at-large of Armenia. He was a member of the National Assembly of Armenia from 2012 to 2021. He was el ...

called for raising relations with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

to a strategic partnership level. Party members also advocate for visa-free travel of Armenian citizens to the EU's

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

. The party opposes Armenia's current membership in the

Eurasian Union The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU)EAEU is the acronym used on thorganisation's website However, many media outlets use the acronym EEU. is an economic union of some post-Soviet states located in Eurasia. The Treaty on the Eurasian Econo ...

and believes that Armenia should withdraw its membership and begin to negotiate an Association Agreement and

Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) are three free trade areas established between the European Union, and Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine respectively. The DCFTAs are part of each country's EU Association Agreement. They allow Geor ...

with the European Union. Bright Armenia supports Armenia's full membership in the EU and wishes to begin the first steps of accession negotiations without delay. The party manifesto states, "Armenia should show initiative in

pan-European Pan-European can refer to: * Pan-European identity * Pan-European corridors ** Pan-European Corridor X ** Pan-European Corridor Xa * Pan European Game Information * Pan-European Institute * Pan-European nationalism * Pan-European Oil Pipeline ...

processes and structures, presenting itself as the true bearer of the values of European civilization and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

." Despite the party's Pro-European orientation, Bright Armenia also believes in maintaining positive cooperation with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and ensuring that the interests of Armenia are not compromised in favor of other countries.

Party council

The party council consists of 12 members. *

- President of the Party * Mane Tandilyan - Vice-President of the Party * Gevorg Gorgisyan * Davit Khazhakyan * Ani Samsonyan *

Beniamin Pluzyan Beniamin ( hy, Բենիամին) is a village and rural community (municipality) in the Shirak Province of Armenia. The town was renamed in 1945 in honor of Beniamin Galstian, a World War II general and native of the town. According to Ghevont Al ...

* Armen Yeghiazaryan *

Grigori Dokhoyan Grigory, Grigori and Grigoriy are Russian masculine given names. It may refer to watcher angels or more specifically to the egrḗgoroi or Watcher angels. Grigory * Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian novelist * Grigory Barenblatt (1927201 ...

Anna Kostanyan Anna Mayis Kostanyan ( hy, Աննա Մայիսի Կոստանյան; born 17 January 1987), is an Armenian politician, Member of the National Assembly of Armenia of Bright Armenia Bright Armenia ( hy, Լուսավոր Հայաստան, translit ...

Harutyun Babayan Harutyun Babayan ( hy, Հարություն Բաբայան; born 18 December 1975), is an Armenian politician, Member of the National Assembly of Armenia of Bright Armenia's faction and former member of the Yerevan City Council The Yerevan City C ...

Sergey Anisonyan Sergey may refer to: * Sergey (name), a Russian given name (including a list of people with the name) * Sergey, Switzerland Sergey is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Sergey is ...

Karen Simonyan Karen Simonyan ( hy, Կարեն Սիմոնյան; born 3 October 1988), is an Armenian politician, Member of the National Assembly of Armenia of Bright Armenia Bright Armenia ( hy, Լուսավոր Հայաստան, translit=Lusavor Hayastan) i ...

Electoral record

Parliamentary elections

Party leader

, was elected as an independent MP following the

2012 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 6 May 2012. President Serzh Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party gained more majority of the parliament seats. Armenia's wealthiest man Gagik Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia came second with about one ...

Local elections

Yerevan City Council elections

References

Political parties established in 2015 2015 establishments in Armenia Political parties in Armenia Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Centrist parties in Europe Classical liberal parties Pro-European political parties in Armenia Liberal parties in Armenia {{Armenia-party-stub