Nikol Pashinyan

Date of birth: 01.06.1975

Nikol Vovaevich Pashinyan - Armenian politician, journalist. Prime Minister of Armenia. Member of the National Assembly of Armenia (2012-2018). Leader of the 'Yelk' faction in the National Assembly of Armenia (2017-2018).

Place of birth. Education. Born on June 1, 1975, in Ijevan. Father Vova Pashinyan worked as an elementary school teacher.

Nikol graduated from local school No. 1 in 1991 and began studying journalism at the philological faculty of Yerevan State University. After four years, he was expelled from the university due to his political activities.

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Political career. Parallel to his studies, he was engaged in journalism. From 1993 to 1994 he was a correspondent for the newspaper 'Dprutjun'.

From 1994 to 1997 he was a correspondent for the newspapers 'Lragir', 'Lragir-or' and 'Molorak'.

From 1995 to 1997 he was the editor of the supplement 'Em-es-e' of the newspaper 'Molorak'.

He was coordinator of the campaign staff of Ashot Blejan in the presidential elections of 1998. In 1998, he founded and became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Oragir'.

In the summer of 1999, a legal case was initiated against Pashinyan, whose newspaper was accused of publishing defamatory materials about the wife of the Armenian parliament member Artashes Geghamyan and mentioning the nickname Norik Aivazyan, a professor at Yerevan University and parliament candidate. The newspaper 'Oragir' was fined $25,000, and the property of the newspaper was seized by bailiffs. The first instance court found Nikol Pashinyan guilty on three counts and sentenced him to one year in prison. After that, the newspaper 'Oragir' was closed. The appellate court convicted Pashinyan of negligent performance of duties, insult of a public official during his service, and non-compliance with the court's decision. Pashinyan was ultimately sentenced to a year in prison (according to the first article), to compensate damage in the amount of 20 minimum wages (according to the second article), and again to compensate the same amount (according to the third article). The cassation court upheld its decision.

In the summer of 1999, he became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Aykakan Zhamanak'. He remained in this position until March 2008.

In the 2007 parliamentary elections, Pashinyan was number one on the list of the 'Impeachment' block, which called for the resignation of then-President Robert Kocharian and then-Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. The block ultimately finished 12th and received 1.29% of the votes (more than 17,000 voter votes). Nikol Pashinyan described the election result as rigged and demanded new elections.

In 2008, he was a member of the election campaign of presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan. After the mass riots on March 1 and 2, 2008, in Yerevan, he was put on the wanted list. In 2009, he surrendered to the authorities. In January 2010, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison for organizing mass riots. Later, the sentence was halved, and in May 2011 he was pardoned on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Armenia's independence.

In 2012, he was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly of Armenia.

Since 2013, he has been a member of the 'Civil Contract' party.

Since 2016, he has been a member of the 'Yelk' block within the 'Civil Contract' party.

In 2017, he was elected to the National Assembly of Armenia from the 'Yelk' block.

In September 2017, he ran for the position of Mayor of Yerevan and finished second with 21% of the votes.

In April 2018, he organized protests against the appointment of Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister.

On April 22, 2018, Pashinyan and Sargsyan held negotiations, but the new Prime Minister left the meeting after the opposition leader stated he would only discuss Sargsyan's resignation. On the same day, Nikol Pashinyan was detained by the police during a march in downtown Yerevan. Later, on April 23, he was released. On that day, Prime Minister Sargsyan resigned, stating 'Nikol Pashinyan was right. I made a mistake. Given the situation, there are several decisions, but I will not follow any of them. That is not me. I am leaving the position of state leader.'

On May 1, 2018, he was unable to gain a majority during the parliamentary vote. After that, he called for the blockade of traffic facilities.

On May 3, 2018, Pashinyan was again proposed for the position of Prime Minister of Armenia by a third of the members of parliament.

On May 8, he was elected Prime Minister of Armenia.

On October 16, 2018 the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan submitted his resignation. Since October 16, 2018 acting Prime Minister of Armenia.

On January 14, 2019 Nikol Pashinyan was reappointed as Prime Minister of Armenia, relinquishing the title of 'acting Prime Minister.'

On April 25, 2021, Pashinyan submitted his resignation to hold early parliamentary elections.

On June 20, 2021, the party of the acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan Civil Contract was elected with a vote of 53.92% in the early parliamentary elections.

On August 2, 2021, the President of Armenia signed a decree to appoint Pashinyan as Prime Minister again.

Views. During his opposition time, Pashinyan stated that Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) 'not voluntarily, but under duress.'

In April 2016, shortly after armed clashes in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, he advocated that their representatives participate in all negotiations regarding the independence of Artsakh.

Family. Married, has three daughters and one son. Wife - Anna Akopian, is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Aykakan Zhamanak.'

26.09.2023.