Armenian political parties get budget payout – ruling My Step gets big payday, former RPA gets token amount

The Government of Armenia has allocated state funds to political parties for 2020, with funding allocated in accordance with the results of the last parliamentary elections held in December 2018.

It’s not only the political forces that got into parliament that will get the money. According to the law “On Parties”, financing is given by all who overcome the three percent barrier.

Among them is the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, which is not represented in parliament now.

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Who will get how much

This year, an amount of 103.7 million drams (about $216,000) will be distributed between political forces.

The largest amount is due to the ruling My Step bloc, which received the most votes – 78 million drams (about $ 163,000).

Opposition forces in parliament will receive more modest funding: Prosperous Armenia party will receive a little over 9 million drams ($19,000), Bright Armenia will receive 7 million (about $15,000).

Financing will be received by two more parties, which did not score the necessary five percent to get into parliament, but were able to overcome the three percent threshold.

The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia will receive 5.2 million drams (a little less than 11 thousand dollars) and the ARF Dashnaktsutyun – 4.3 million (9 thousand dollars).

Will party funding increase?

Vice Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said that the government is discussing a draft amendment to the Law on Parties, the procedure for financing parties is being reviewed. Most likely, it will be increased, as the Deputy Prime Minister spoke about the need to help political parties:

“I think those days have passed when party activity was associated with negative phenomena. With the changes, we must encourage young people to engage in the political activities necessary to strengthen parliamentarism in our country. ”