The Christian-Democratic Rebirth Party ( hy, Հայաստանի Քրիստոնեա Դեմոկրատական Շարժում, translit=''Hayastani K’ristonea Demokratakan Sharzhum''), also known as the Christian Democratic Movement of Armenia, is a

Christian democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

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 15 September 2018.

History

The party was founded during a ceremony held in Yerevan on 15 September 2018. The party did participate in the 2018 Armenian parliamentary election, however the party received just 0.51% of the popular vote and failed to gain any political representation 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 ...

. The party had nominated 82 candidates to run in the election across the country, including some members from the Hayk Party. Following the election results, the party pledged to support the elected government of

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1 ...

but that it would also act as an extra-parliamentary force to ensure that democratic principals are upheld in the country. In May 2021, the party formed an electoral alliance with the For The Republic Party. The alliance, known as the Shirinyan-Babajanyan Alliance of Democrats, announced its intentions to 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 with Arman Babajanyan as its leader. Following the election, the alliance received 1.50% of the popular vote, failing to win any seats in the National Assembly.

Ideology

The party supported the developments of the

2018 Armenian revolution The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin ( hy, ՄերժիրՍերժին, meaning "#RejectSerzh"), was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and ...

and aimed to strengthen the results of the revolution by establishing a new political party, based on

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

morals and democratic values. During a press statement, Levon Shirinyan stated, "We want to develop the cultural values of the country and revive the Armenian high culture." The parties chairman also stated that the principal ideology will be a combination of both

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

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

, while strongly opposing

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

. Shirinyan stated, "In the 1990s, we had communistic extremism and now we have liberalism. Both are dangerous, both direct to nowhere." In terms of economics, the party advocates for a strong

social market economy The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...

and a revival of the industrial sector. In regards to foreign policy, the party does not wish to align completely with either

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 ...

or the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. The party is opposed to the

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

of Armenia. Rather, party leaders advocate towards maintaining neutrality and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia.

Electoral record

Parliamentary elections

References

External links