Why have coalitions in the National Assembly of Armenia ?

Vahe H Apelian 

I do not know of another country where political parties come together and form another political entity as a coalition or alliance and participate in the election as such to qualify for seats in the National Assembly, or in the country’s parliament. There may be such political systems, but I am not aware, other than in Armenia.

At the present two coalitions or alliances make up the opposition in the National Assembly of Armenia (NA).  They are “Armenia Alliance” (Hayastan Dashink), which is made up of the following three parties: Armenian Revolutionary Federation, One Armenia Party and Reborn Armenia party. The other is “I Have Honor Alliance" or coalition (Padiv unem dashink), which is comprised of the Republican Party and the Homeland Party.  The government is made of the front known as “Civil Contract” (K’aghak’atsiakan paymanagir). I say it is a front and not a coalition or alliance because two former alliances have come together as a front. They are, the former Way Out Alliance (Yelk Dashink), and the former My Step Alliance (Im k’ayly dashink). The two alliances or coalitions of the opposition are made up of active parities. The government is a front as it is made up of entities that are not active political parties any longer. In Armenian parlance, they are no longer – krantsouats - registered political parties. 

Political coalitions have become a reality in Armenia because of the existing electoral system which mandates a relatively high threshold for the political party to have seats in the National Assembly. The party should have at least 5% of the votes cast to qualify for seats in the National Assembly. Israel is also a multi-party democracy. The threshold there is 3.25%. There was time when the threshold in Israel was 1%. Consequently, political parties that may not assure 5% of the votes, may come together and make a coalition and participate in the election as a coalition, instead of having participated as individual political parties. These parties thus have a better chance of NA representation even though the threshold for the coalition is 7%. There is more likelihood of three parties come together as a coalition and secure seats, than each on its own. However, the parties should compromise to establish a common ground. Case in point for Diaspora, there are ARF-ers who represent the "Armenia Coalition"'s agenda in the NA, whatever that is, but are not representatives of ARF. They also need to work among themselves as how many from each party will actually be in the NA. Surely, being a member of NA is a coveted position.  

By law, the NA of Armenia has to be comprised of at least three political entities, be it. party or a coalition. 

During the last election in June 2021, “I Have Honor” coalition had 5% of the votes, less than the 7% required for a coalition and yet got seats in the NA because it had the most votes and thus became the third entity in the NA. Four alliances and 23 parties had submitted documents to Armenia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) in order to register for the elections and the four alliances and 23 parties participated in the election but only two coalitions and one front qualified for seats in the NA.

Each system has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, raising the threshold of participation in the multi-party systems secures the exemption of on the fringes ultra conservative, ultra nationalistic parties, to have seats. Such parties tend to tilt the careful balance of the major competing forces in their favor and drive the country’s politics towards extremism. It does not surprise me that was the reason Israel raised the threshold of party participation in the Knesset. I quote regarding the progressive tightening of the threshold in Israel, it used to be: “1 percent of the vote from 1949 to 1992, 1.5 percent from 1992 to 2003, 2 percent from 2003 to 2014, and 3.25 percent since 2015.”

On the minus side, raising the threshold results in a lot of wasted votes, or rather in usurped votes. The followings are the actual percentages of the votes, the two coalitions and the Civil Contract front got during the last, June 2021, election.  The “Armenia Alliance” had 21.11% of the votes, the “I Have Honor Alliance” had 5.22% of the votes, and the "Civil Contract" had 53.95% of the votes. If you tally the votes of two opposition coalitions in the NA, it amounts to 26.33%, which with the "Civil Contact"’s votes of 53.95% add up to 81.28% of the votes. What happened to the remaining 19% of the votes cast? The remaining 19% was absorbed by those who make the NA and hence the "Civil Contract" that had 53.95% of the popular vote, commands 67% (2/3) of the National Assembly. The two alliances of the opposition that had 26.33% of the popular votes, command 33% of the National Assembly (1/3). Consequently, it makes no sense for a political party in Armenia to participate in the election if it cannot assure 5% of the votes for itself. The votes cast in that party’s favor will be wasted. It rather form a coalition.

National Assembly of Armenia is comprised of 101 seats plus additional and leveling seats reserved for minorities. The number of seats in the present National Assembly is 107 seats. “The Civil Contract” has 71 sets, the “Armenia Alliance” had 29 seats and the “I Have Honor” coalition has 7 seats. But the National Assembly had 132 seats in the December 2018 Armenian parliamentary election. The opposition had 44 seats and the Nikol Pashynian led government had 88 seats. 

The change in the number of seats of the National Assembly is made to satisfy to following. First assure the party or the coalition its share of the votes received. And also assure that the National Assembly make up is 2/3 for the government and 1/3 for the opposition. The higher percentage of the votes of the winning party or coalition, the more  the  number of seats of the National Assembly will will be. Nikol Pashinyan won 70.44% of the votes in 2018 December parliamentary election resulting in 132 seat National Assembly. In 2021 parliamentary election, Nikol Pashinyan led government won 53.95% of the electoral votes, which resulted in 107 seats National Assembly. I have presented in my previous blogs, the mathematical basis for computing the number of seats of the NA.

I favor the threshold of the votes for the political party in Armenia be lowered, such as to 3.0 % as in Israel (3.25%) and do away with coalition and maybe also the mandated 2/3 government seats and 1/3 opposition seats and have number of seats of the National Assembly remain the same, such as 107 in the present. Let the parties fight for the votes and the elected parties fight among themselves  to form the government and the opposition.

Democracy is a messy business. But as Churchill is credited to have famously said that democracy is the worst form of governance but there is no better.