Address by the President of the Republic on the Launch of the Election Campaign

Dear compatriots,

Distinguished representatives of political forces, leaders of parties and alliances, candidates, supporters, and like-minded citizens,

The election campaign for the upcoming electoral process is beginning. It is a stage that carries special political and value-based significance for every democratic state. Elections are not merely a constitutional mechanism for forming government. They are also among the most important indicators of our public maturity, political culture, mutual respect, and responsibility toward the state.

Democracy remains viable to the extent that society trusts in the power of its own vote and is convinced that its expression of will is protected, heard, and influential. In recent years, the electoral culture formed in the Republic of Armenia has become the basis for important changes. Since 2018, the elections held in our country have significantly strengthened public confidence in electoral processes by establishing a new political reality of free expression of will, transparency, and legitimacy of electoral results. This is an important achievement of our statehood, one that requires continuous responsibility and consistent development.

This electoral stage, too, must become a platform for healthy and dignified debate among competing political ideas, visions, and perspectives regarding the future. Public discourse, especially during political campaigns, shapes the social atmosphere and influences citizens’ moods, trust, and sense of solidarity. Therefore, it is extremely important that all political forces participating in the elections, the candidates, and their supporters be guided by a high sense of political ethics, public responsibility, and statesmanship.

The campaign should be built not on insults, intolerance, or dividing society along separating lines, but around ideas, programs, principles, and paths for the country’s development. Political competition may be intense, but it must never lose the boundaries of civility, because the strength of democracy lies not only in freedom of speech, but also in the ability to exercise that freedom with dignity.

At the foundation of our state stands the individual — with dignity, rights, freedom, and responsibility. Every citizen of the Republic of Armenia must feel that they are at the center of political processes, not as a means, but as the highest value. This is the principle that should guide both political struggle and the entire system of public governance.

At the same time, I consider it important to emphasize that all state bodies involved in the electoral process, local self-government structures, law enforcement, and oversight institutions are obliged to act exclusively in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Armenia, and with the supremacy of the public state interest, ensuring equal conditions, legality, and the continued strengthening of public trust.

I am confident that under conditions of political maturity, mutual public respect, and civic responsibility, we can conduct elections that will not only express the free will of the people, but also give new strength to our democratic institutions, state stability, and national solidarity.

I wish for this electoral process to become an example of dignified political competition, public trust, and the reaffirmation of democratic values — for the sake of a strong, law-based Republic of Armenia that looks confidently toward the future.