“Forty percent of our list are comprised of women. We are the only political force who has two women in the top five. This means that our party considers the role women play in politics very important and creates equal opportunities for them to be involved alongside the men,” says the 49-year-old Haroyan.

Quota - The Last Hope for Women’s Involvement in Politics

According to Armenia’s legislation, the National Assembly is elected for a five-year term and has to have a minimum of 101 members. A member of the National Assembly has to be at least 25 years of age, must be an Armenian citizen and living permanently in Armenia for the last four years and can speak Armenian.

Following the Velvet Revolution, it was understood that snap elections would take place. This became legally feasible when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigned from his post in October of this year and the National Assembly did not vote for a new prime minister twice as a result of political agreements by parliamentary forces.

Nine political parties and two political alliances will take part in the first nationwide snap elections.

They are:

Not only does the National Progress Party have two women in their top five, but also four women in their top ten. The My Step and Menq Alliances, Bright Armenia and Country of Law Party have only three women in their top ten. The remaining forces have merely satisfied what the law demands, that is they have a minimum of two women for every ten names.

According to Paragraph 14 of Article 133 of the “Transitional Provisions” section of the RA’s Electoral Code, political parties and each party within an alliance or coalition of parties should not include more than 75 percent of any gender; starting from the first name and each set of four candidates on a party’s (or alliance’s) national proportional list needs to include at least one male and one female. 

This means that every fourth person or 25 percent of a party’s electoral list has to be a woman.

Despite the fact that more than 50 percent of Armenia’s population are women, the only party that has entrusted its number one slot to a woman is a newly founded one that is still not well known.

Tamara Hovnatanyan, President of Pro-Media Gender NGO and Editor-in-Chief of Womennet.am and Woman & Politics app says that women have had dismal representation in the top five names on national proportional lists. “This means that political parties have remained within the law and have a woman for every fourth place on the list - merely complying with the law. If there was no law, it’s possible that we would have a different picture, because the top five represents women’s importance within the party,” she says adding that there are many reasons for this. So much so that a quota had to be implemented. She continues, “Without a quota women’s progress is thwarted. If a woman is not important within her party and is not part of their higher ranks, then this is a serious issue. This means that there is a membership issue.”

According to Shahnazaryan, even though many women have been able to get into parliament because of the quota, they have been able to prove themselves. Shahnazaryan adds, “In the previous parliament we saw women become members because of the quota. All they did was repeat the opinions and ideas of the men of their party. When the number of women increases in parliament they will be able to express their own opinions and not repeat what the men say. When they are few in numbers they have the problem of proving the point that they are not less than the men.”

In any case, according to Shahnazaryan there seems to be change now, new political parties are being created, there’s a new generation that is more prepared and conscious.

“There were even women who self-nominated themselves. They did not wait for an invitation. In this sense there is change,” Shahnazaryan says. “Compared to years before they are also not as compliant. We’re seeing new types of women - women we had long been hoping to see. They have progressive views, they are more informed. We need to ensure quality as well and now that change in quality is quite evident.”    

According to Shahnazaryan there are many reasons why women avoid politics. Women don’t have enough skills and more often than not, they weren’t given opportunities to learn what they should have to acquire those skills. In addition to this, women continue to bear the weight of the family on their shoulders. Society has been sceptical of active women, political parties are hardened and closed-off - these have also kept women back.

When forming his new government Nikol Pashinyan was asked why so few women were included. He explained that they had reached out to women to be included, however they declined.

Shahnazaryan believes that this explanation is not a justification. “This shows us once again that we have to think about gender education. This would allow us to have a similar vision in at least the near future, however we don’t have any mechanisms nor are we trying something to include more women. All we say is that they did not want to and that’s it, not bearing in mind that certain steps have to be taken, strategies need to be proposed,” explains Shahnazaryan.

These women who are trying break into this man’s world are ready to fight, despite the disappointments and difficulties.

“I’ve always taken part in all protests where I saw sincerity and concern for our country’s future. And now when an opportunity has arisen to clean the political field, we have to take part in these processes and invest our professional skills into the strengthening of our country. Of course, we will do everything we can to get into parliament, because we justifiably believe that we are a realistic force and can bring completely new approaches and solutions. However, we’re not going to parliament for self-serving purposes, it’s not for the position. We will be present in the political field after the elections as well,” Lusine Haroyan says, the only woman leading an electoral list from the political forces taking part in the Armenia’s first post-revolutionary parliamentary elections.