This article is part of the “Armenia Season”, featuring on commonspace.eu from 1 May -15 June 2026.

It was first published on Armenia Elections Monitor – a LINKS Europe initiative – on 1 May 2026

BACKGROUND TO THE FORTHCOMING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

The Armenian Parliamentary Elections will be held on Sunday, 7 June 2026. Citizens who maintain a permanent residence in Armenia and are at least 18 years old can vote. These elections will be the first regularly scheduled national elections since 2017, following two snap elections held in 2018 and 2021 that were triggered by constitutional crises. In these parliamentary elections, the revised thresholds for entering the government are:

• 4% for single parties
• 8% for alliances of two parties
• 9% for three and 10% for alliances of more parties.

Alongside these rules, up to four seats in parliament are reserved for national minorities to ensure their representation (one for each of the four largest national minorities, Yezidis, Russians, Assyrians, and Kurds). There is also no minimum turnout required for parliamentary elections to be considered valid. This means that regardless of how many people vote, the results of the election will still stand.

At least 101 members of parliament are elected using a proportional system for a period of five years. Parties provide closed lists of individual candidates before the elections take place, and voters will only get to vote for the party/block of parties that represents their values the best. After the votes are counted, seats in parliament are distributed based on how much support each party received, as long as they pass the minimum vote threshold. Parties receive seats roughly in proportion to their share of the vote, and those seats are then allocated to candidates according to their position on the party list.

If one party or alliance of parties wins more than half of the seats, it can form a government on its own. If no one has a clear majority, parties have a few days to negotiate and try to form a coalition government together and propose a Prime Minister. If they cannot reach an agreement, a second round of voting is held only between the two parties or blocs that received the highest number of votes running. The winner of the second round is provided with additional mandates to secure the majority in parliament.

According to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia, “Elections are held on the basis of the principles of freedom and voluntariness in the exercise of the right to vote. No one has the right to force a voter to vote for or against any candidate, party (alliance of parties), as well as to force a voter to participate or not to participate in the elections.”

Armenian law treats offering, receiving, or facilitating election bribes as criminal offences. In this case, election bribery covers offering, promising, or giving money, property, services, or any other benefit to a voter to influence how they vote. It also covers disguising payments as salaries, charity, or other benefits during the pre-election period. 

Article 219 of the Criminal Code sets out the penalties, with punishments ranging from three to six years in prison for those who promise to bribe or have been found to bribe voters. In addition, people who accept such offers may face imprisonment for up to three years, short-term detention, and/or restriction of liberty for one to three years. 

Voting Matters:

In a democratic society, voting is the crucial backbone; you cannot have a democracy without it. Armenian citizens will have the chance to vote for the party that represents their values, needs, and interests in the government. It should not be understated: voting is important, and without it, societies become disconnected from the needs of the public. By voting, citizens reaffirm their commitment to democratic values such as freedom, equality, and justice.

Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI):

Several monitoring groups say the 7 June 2026 parliamentary elections face risk from foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation, proxy actors, and AI-generated content used on social media. Such acts have been defined as Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). FIMI are different activities that are intentionally coordinated by different state or non-state actors to manipulate public opinion. Some of the main tools are misinformation, media manipulation, and the use of AI texts or images on social media, but also other activities, such as paying journalists or influencers to spread false or biased narratives.  

Different countries are seeking to influence the election process, including through proxies in Armenia and through FIMI activities. It is important to remain critical and check the data provided from multiple sources before drawing conclusions. Against this backdrop, the Armenia 2026 Election Monitor aims to provide critical analysis and track key developments surrounding the 2026 parliamentary elections.

Source: This article is part of the “Armenia Season”, featuring on commonspace.eu from 1 May -15 June 2026. It was first published on Armenia Elections Monitor – a LINKS Europe initiative – on 1 May 2026

https://www.commonspace.eu/news/background-information-7-june-parliamentary-elections-armenia

The summit is a milestone in Armenia’s cooperation with its European partners, as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote in his letter of invitation. It underlines “our strong and unwavering commitment to democratic values and the rule of law”.

The 8th meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) will take place in Yerevan on Monday under the motto “Shaping the future: Security and Stability in Europe”. The EPC comprises all European states including those of the South Caucasus – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – but not Russia and Belarus.

The heads of the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have also been invited. For the first time, a non-European, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, will be attending the meeting as a guest, as the European Council recently announced.

President Parmelin travels to the meeting

Switzerland is represented at EPG meetings by the President of the Swiss Confederation. This year it is Guy Parmelin. The President of the Swiss Confederation will take part in an exchange on economic security, his Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) wrote in a press release on Thursday.

He will also take the opportunity to hold bilateral talks. A meeting with Taoiseach Micheal Martin – as the head of government in Ireland is known – is planned in view of Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council. Ireland will take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council on July 1 and until the end of the year. Parmelin will also exchange views with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Yerevan wavers between Brussels and Moscow

National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt (center/AG) sees the EPG meeting in Yerevan as a rapprochement with Europe. “The government is moving at speed towards the West and away from Russia,” said the Co-President of the Swiss-Armenian Association in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, this is a risky game, as Armenia’s largest economic partner is by far Russia.

Like Russia and three other former republics of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). According to the latest figures from the World Trade Organization (WTO) for 2022, Russia was Armenia’s most important trading partner in terms of both exports and imports. The EU is listed in second place.

“Europe is more of a political vision for Armenia. But it is integrated by Russia,” said Ansgar Jödicke, a social scientist at the University of Freiburg with a research focus on the South Caucasus, when asked. Yerevan receives cheap energy from Russia, which Europe cannot offer.

Armenia votes in June

According to Jödicke, joining the EU is not realistic and he describes the rapprochement with the EU as a domestic political message from the current government. “Society and politics are very polarized between pro-European and pro-Russian positions.”

Parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia on June 7. “Pashinyan portrays all of his opponents as Russia-friendly,” continued Jödicke, who described the upcoming elections as “very open”.

The elections were a topic of discussion at a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Armenian Prime Minister in Moscow at the beginning of April. Putin also said that it was “simply impossible” to be a member of the EU Customs Union and the EAEU, according to the minutes of the meeting published by the Armenian Prime Minister.

Relations with Brussels will be the focus of an EU-Armenia summit in Yerevan on Tuesday. The EU leaders – the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa – will then meet with Pashinyan. According to the European Council, the aim is to further strengthen bilateral relations.

On Sunday, April 26, the Gorky’s Gardeners Creative Action collective gathered at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Grove in Union Square, Manhattan, to commemorate the 111th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. The event served as a solemn yet inspiring memorial, blending performance art with community reflection to honor a painful historical legacy. The participating members included Aram Jibilian, Giorgio Handman, Linda Ganjian, Jesse Lambert, Hrag Vartanian, and Veken Gueyikian, along with additional performance participants Houri Guedelekian, Anoush Froundjian, Dalia Elsayed, Andrew Demirjian, and Alan Semerdjian.

The Performance and Procession

The commemoration began with a staged performance that moved through the heart of Union Square. Members of the Gorky’s Gardeners collective processed through the park carrying sculptures, creating a visual dialogue with the public space. While the official memorial plaque is located on the northeast corner of the park, the procession transitioned toward the opposite corner of the square, where the community gathered for the second phase of the action.

Poetry, Music, and Memory

The atmosphere shifted from the movement of the performance to a concentrated space of oral tradition and reflection. Participants shared original poetry, live music, and meaningful speeches.

The collective’s namesake, Arshile Gorky, remains one of the most significant figures in Armenian art history. The choice of location was particularly resonant not only because of the Memorial Grove but also due to Gorky’s own history in the neighborhood; his longtime studio was situated blocks away from the plaque in Union Square.

The event was less a celebration and more a “strong conversation”—a creative intervention designed to ensure that the beginning of the Armenian Genocide is neither forgotten nor silenced in the heart of New York City.

Azerbaijan’s Parliament voted Friday to suspend cooperation with the European Parliament and begin terminating its membership in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. The move followed a Thursday resolution adopted by the European Parliament that addressed Nagorno-Karabakh and the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.

European Parliament resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh

The European Parliament’s text said it supports the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, including their right to a safe, unimpeded and dignified return under appropriate international guarantees. The resolution also called for those responsible for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage to be held accountable, and for an international assessment mission.

It condemned Azerbaijan’s detention of Armenian prisoners of war, detainees and hostages, and demanded their immediate and unconditional release. The resolution also referred to the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, about 100,000 people, who fled after Azerbaijan’s final offensive into the region in 2023. Azerbaijani lawmakers treated those passages as the trigger for Friday’s break.

Marijana Kujundžić receives protest note

On Friday, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned Marijana Kujundžić, the EU ambassador to Azerbaijan, and handed her a note of protest. The ministry told Kujundžić that the unfounded and biased provisions against Azerbaijan were condemned.

The parliamentary statement escalated that message further. It said that “at the core of the European Parliament’s activities lies a decisive rejection of the norms and principles of international law and the concept of justice.” It also said the body had shown disregard for the 30-year occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, the destruction of hundreds of Azerbaijani cities and villages, and the human rights of more than 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons.

Euronest ties face termination

The vote does more than suspend one channel of contact. By starting the process of terminating membership in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, Azerbaijan is moving to sever a parliamentary link that sits alongside its ties with the European Parliament. The resolution’s other sections applauded the ongoing peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and expressed support for growing Armenia-EU ties, which makes the split sharper rather than procedural.

That friction centers on the fate of 19 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians held in Azerbaijan. Some are still on trial, while others have recently received lengthy prison sentences after being accused of committing war crimes and other associated charges. For now, the clearest next step is institutional rather than military: Azerbaijan has begun the process of ending its Euronest membership while the European Parliament keeps its resolution on the books.

• Melanie Hooks

Visitors to Glendale’s Forest Lawn Museum will soon have the chance to hear directly from the artists featured in Convergence, the museum’s ongoing exhibition highlighting more than twenty contemporary creators of Armenian descent. A new series of monthly artist talks, free to attend, with complimentary parking, will offer deeper insight into each artist’s process, influences, and approach to their craft.

By Melanie Hooks

Moderated by Dr. James Fishburne, Director of Forest Lawn Museum, and artist Kaloust Geudel, the conversations will explore the diverse perspectives that shape the exhibition. Attendees can also access additional background on each artist through the digital exhibition catalog, available via the museum’s exhibition page.

Artist Spotlight Calendar

• Saturday, May 9 at 2:00 pm — Aroussiak Gabrielian
• Sunday, June 14 at 2:00 pm — Painterly Expressions Rouzanna Berberian Kaloust Geudel Gegam Kacherian Hagop Najarian Arshak Nazarian Gagik Vardanyan
• Sunday, July 12 at 2:00 pm — Looking Through the Lens Liana Grigoryan Sossi Madzounian Ara Mgrdichian
• Sunday, August 9 at 2:00 pm— Art, Politics and Identity Alina Mnatsakanian Ara Oshagan She Loves Collective Alysse Stepanian Harry Vorperian

About the “Convergence” Exhibition

Convergence brings together a wide-ranging group of artists whose work spans abstraction, conceptual installations, photography, sculpture, and mixed media. Rather than attempting to encapsulate the full breadth of Armenian history or identity, the exhibition centers on the shared heritage of its contributors—artists born in the United States, recent immigrants, and creators from across the Armenian diaspora.

Curated by Alina Mnatsakanian and Kaloust Guedel in collaboration with Dr. Fishburne, the exhibition showcases the work of Martiros Adalian, Rouzanna Berberian, Tina Chakarian, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Charles Garabedian, Sophia Gasparian, Liana Grigoryan, Kaloust Guedel, Charlie Hachadourian, Alex Hedison, Armineh Hovanesian, Narine Isajanyan, Gegam Kacherian, Farrah Karapetian, Nina Katchadourian, Bari Luis, Sossi Madzounian, Ara Mgrdichian, Alina Mnatsakanian, Hagop Najarian, Arshak Nazarian, Ara Oshagan, Larisa Safaryan, Aram Saroyan, She Loves Collective, Alysse Stepanian, Gagik Vardanyan, Harry Vorperian, Zadik Zadikian, and Zareh.

Through their varied practices, these artists offer a multifaceted look at Armenian experience and _expression_—an artistic convergence that invites viewers to consider identity, memory, and innovation from multiple angles.

Convergence Artist Spotlights
2:00 pm: Saturday, May 9; Sunday, June 14; Sunday, July 12; Sunday, August 9 
Location
Forest Lawn Museum
1712 S. Glendale Ave.
Glendale, CA 91205
Parking, admission and talks, free.

https://www.coloradoboulevard.net/artist-spotlight-talks-on-armenian-creators-at-forest-lawn-museum/