Fourth Republic Established: Nikol Pashinyan

On June 7, 2026, the people of the Republic of Armenia voted in favor of the ideology of a real Armenia. This election outcome is historic as it redefines the functional significance of the Republic of Armenia. This statement was made today, August 24, by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan while presenting the government's program for the upcoming five years in the National Assembly.

He notably emphasized, “The philosophy underlying the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia in 1990 was that a state is necessary to restore historical justice, a notion that was expressed through the Karabakh movement. The ideology of a real Armenia stipulates that the sole operational significance of the Republic of Armenia is to ensure peace, freedom, security, and prosperity for its citizens within its internationally recognized territory of 29,743 square kilometers. It is about creating an environment for the happiness of the citizens, which in modern life is referred to as an ecosystem, preserving and developing the identity of the people.

It was in favor of such a state and vision that the citizens of the Republic of Armenia voted on June 7, 2026, and this vision is what we call the Fourth Republic. Thus, we can note that the Fourth Republic has been established, the Fourth Republic is a reality. It is clear to me, upon analyzing the history of the Third Republic, that a state serving peaceful life is the expectation of our people. For instance, in 2021, when the opposition developed the thesis that 'the defeated government must leave,' the people voted with confidence for the Civil Contract party. However, since 1994, no former president, who had presented himself as a victorious leader through the thesis of victory in war, has received a mandate of trust from the people in elections and has been obliged to seize power through falsifications, the use of force, and murders and terror.

This was a part of the experience that culminated in the revolution of 2018. All of this is a sign that our people understood much earlier that the Karabakh conflict is a trap, and it is impossible to have a truly independent state without confronting this fact, where it would be possible to live freely, securely, and prosperously. Nevertheless, as has often been the case in our history, these aspirations of the people have not received political articulation, because our historical tradition imposes ideas on the people from spiritual political elites rather than extracting political ideas and views from the aspirations and desires of the people, and this tradition has continued until the non-violent Velvet Revolution of 2018.

The key outcome of the revolution should have been that the influence of the people on the shaping of policies and political concepts would increase. This phenomenon initially found intuitive expressions, which then received a progressively more stable and structured appearance, and what is happening here today is precisely the expression of that.