The Liberal Party ( hy, Ազատական կուսակցություն, translit=Azatakan kusakts’ut’yun) is an

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 ' ...

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 ideological or p ...

. It was founded on 1 March 2021 and is currently led by

Samvel Babayan Samvel Andraniki Babayan ( hy, Սամվել Անդրանիկի Բաբայան; born 5 March 1965) is an Armenian military commander and politician from Nagorno-Karabakh. He was one of the founders and main commanders of the Artsakh Defence Army ...

, former defense minister of the

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former ...

and leader of the

United Motherland United Motherland (), also known as United Homeland is a political party in the Republic of Artsakh. It was founded on 22 September 2019. Samvel Babayan is the party's founder and leader. Electoral record The party participated in the 2020 Ar ...

party in Artsakh.

History

The Liberal Party was founded in March 2021 and subsequently 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 ...

. The party won 1.17% of the popular vote in the election, failing to win any seats 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 rep ...

. The party accepted the results of the election and congratulated Prime Minister

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 ...

on his reelection. Currently, the party 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 Ger ...

force. In November 2021, the party participated in local elections in the city of

Meghri Meghri ( hy, Մեղրի) is a town and the center of the urban community of Meghri, in Syunik Province in southern Armenia, near the border with Iran. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 4,580. According to the 2020 official es ...

, winning two seats on the Meghri city council.

Ideology

The party favors strengthening Armenia's military and protecting the territorial integrity of Armenia and Artsakh. The party's leader Samvel Babayan advocates for the creation of a professional army. The party believes that peace, stability, and economic development in the

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

region can be achieved through continued European integration and eventual membership in 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 de ...

. The party has also called for Armenia to withdraw from the Russian-led

Eurasian Economic 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 ...

in the event that

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

becomes a member state.

Electoral record

Parliamentary elections

References

External links