The National Democratic Union ( hy, Ազգային ժողովրդավարական միություն, translit=Azgayin zhoghovrdavarakan miut’yun; AZhM) is a

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 ...

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 ' ...

Vazgen Manukyan Vazgen Mikayeli Manukyan (Armenian: , born 13 February 1946) is an Armenian politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Armenia from 1990 to 1991. From 1992 to 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Manukyan was acting Defence Min ...

is the current chairman of the party.

History

The party received 7.7% of the vote in the 1995 Armenian parliamentary election and won five seats in the National Assembly. The party nominated Manukyan as its candidate in the

1996 Armenian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 22 September 1996. The result was a victory for Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who received 51% of the vote. Turnout was 60%. Background The 1996 presidential election was the second presidential election af ...

, he came in second place winning 41% of the vote. The party gained won 6 seats in the National Assembly following the

1999 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 30 May 1999. There were 75 constituency seats and 56 elected on a national basis using proportional representation.classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factb ...

. The party nominated Manukyan as its candidate in the 2003 Armenian presidential election. Manukyan came in fifth place, receiving 0.90% of the vote. The party nominated Manukyan as its candidate in the

2008 Armenian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 19 February 2008. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was elected in the first round according to official results, but this was disputed by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was officially placed ...

. Manukyan came in fifth place, receiving 1.29% of the vote. The party refused to participate in the 2018 parliamentary elections.Vazgen Manukyan's Party Snubs December 9 Parliamentary Race
/ref> However, the party stated that it will regroup, refocus its ideology and strengthen its ranks following the 2018 parliamentary elections. During the 2020–2021 Armenian protests, Vazgen Manukyan was nominated by the Homeland Salvation Movement political alliance to be its leader. The National Democratic Union did not 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. The party currently has no representation in the National Assembly and acts as an extra-parliamentary force.

Ideology

The party supports the reunification of Artsakh with Armenia, improving

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and

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

, as well as strengthening Armenia's economy.

References

2013 establishments in Armenia Political parties established in 2013 Political parties in Armenia {{Armenia-party-stub

History

Ideology

See also

References