Arman Babajanyan

Arman Shamiri Babajanyan (Armenian: Արման Շամիրի Բաբաջանյան; born 15 January 1976) is an Armenian politician and journalist whօ previously served as an independent member of the National Assembly of Armenia.[1]

Arman Babajanyan
Արման Բաբաջանյան
Arman Babajanyan
Member of the National Assembly of Armenia
In office 14 January 2019 – 10 May 2021
Parliamentary group	Independent (Bright Armenia before September 2019)
Personal details
Born	(1976-01-15) 15 January 1976 Yerevan, Armenia SSR, Soviet Union
Political party	For The Republic Party

Babajanyan was previously the chief editor of the Zhamanak-Yerevan newspaper.[2] In 2006 Babajanyan recognized himself partially guilty for avoiding mandatory service in Armenian Armed Forces and was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.[3] Babajanyan claimed that the case was political in nature and that orders for his imprisonment came from the president of Armenia.[2] Babajanyan was released from imprisonment in August 2009.[4]

Babajanyan was elected to the National Assembly in the 2018 Armenian parliamentary election as a member of the Bright Armenia party's electoral list. He left the party's parliamentary group in September 2019 and became an independent member of parliament.[5] Babajanyan is the current leader of the For The Republic Party, which he founded in September 2020.[6]

In May 2021, Babajanyan was nominated to lead an electoral alliance between the For the Republic Party and the Christian-Democratic Rebirth Party. The alliance, known as the Shirinyan-Babajanyan Alliance of Democrats, announced its intentions to participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary election.[7] Following the election, the alliance received 1.50% of the popular vote, failing to win any seats in the National Assembly.