Aleksey Petrosyan is the project director at Transparency International Anticorruption Center in Armenia and oversees election monitoring initiatives. Aleksey has participated in a number of local, parliamentary and presidential elections as an observer. He spoke to Sareen Habeshian about Transparency International’s long-term electoral observations and about how they will monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections on December 9.
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Democracy Watch: ANIF Dissolution Raises Questions on Investments and Governance
By Tigran Grigoryan and Karena Avedissian The Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) is set to be dissolved, with its management transitioning to the State Property Management Committee. ANIF is a governmental organization established in 2019, with a mandate “to consolidate and effectively manage the ownership of Armenian state-owned enterprises, to promote export growth and investments in Armenia by providing co-financing in large-scale projects at their initial stage of development.” Initiated during a meeting chaired by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on March 14, the dissolution process of ANIF raises questions about the rationale behind this decision and the fate of […]
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Galstanyan, outspoken archbishop, bids to become Armenia’s prime minister
By Mark Dovich Bagrat Galstanyan, the charismatic and outspoken clergyman who emerged last month as the leader of a growing anti-government movement in Armenia, was named Sunday as the opposition’s preferred candidate to replace Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister. It was not immediately clear how to square Galstanyan’s leadership bid with the fact that Armenia’s constitution bars dual citizens from serving as prime minister. Galstanyan, who serves as archbishop for Armenia’s northeastern Tavush region, also holds a Canadian passport. Gurgen Melikyan, a former dean at Yerevan State University and a well-known public intellectual, announced the news to tens of thousands […]
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3 dead as severe floods leave trail of destruction across
By Mark Dovich At least three people died and two others went missing Sunday after days of strong rainstorms caused rivers in northern Armenia to overflow their banks, sweeping away bridges and roads and inundating nearby communities. At least 265 people in Armenia’s Lori and Tavush regions have been evacuated so far. As of 7:30 p.m., search and rescue workers continued to comb through the destruction, the result of Armenia’s worst flooding in decades. Over the weekend, Lori and Tavush received 40-60% of the precipitation they normally get in a month, Armenia’s Environment Ministry said. That caused rivers in the […]
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Negotiations heat up over Zvartnots Airport expansion plan
By Mark Dovich Armenia has indicated the 20% internal rate of return it grants to Corporación América Airports remains a key sticking point in ongoing talks over a major expansion plan for Zvartnots, the country’s main airport. The Armenian government is seeking to lower that figure, which refers to the compounded annual rate of return the Luxembourg-based conglomerate earns every year for its investments, before greenlighting the construction of a second terminal, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan revealed Wednesday. “The negotiations are quite difficult, since we believe it is impossible to continue under the current concession agreement, since there are […]
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Armenia’s Darik Village has a mission to transform the country’s
By Paul Vartan Sookiasian At the end of a dirt road at the top edge of Armenia’s northeastern Shirak region lies a tiny village seeking to bring big changes to Armenia’s wool industry. Darik has a population of just three people, but what it lacks in people, it makes up for in about 1,600 sheep, all raised at a farm run by husband-and-wife duo Armen Khechoyan and Ira Tadevosyan. The majority of sheep in Armenia, including in Darik, are raised for their meat, with most of their wool going unused, often burned or simply thrown away. That untapped potential has […]
