Survey Reveals Mixed Sentiments on Armenia's Political Direction and Leadership
On July 10, Aram Navasardyan, the head of the Armenian office of Gallup International Association, released the results of a survey indicating that 44.3% of respondents believe Armenia should remain neutral and not be a member of either the CSTO or NATO. Meanwhile, 16.9% supported continued membership in the CSTO, and 29% favored joining NATO. The survey also revealed a nearly 10% decrease in CSTO membership support and a 7% increase in NATO membership support compared to the previous survey.
Respondents were also asked about the direction in which Yerevan is moving: 15.2% said "completely in the right direction," 10.6% said "rather in the right direction," 23.1% said "rather in the wrong direction," and 28.5% said "definitely in the wrong direction," while 22.5% were unsure. The telephone survey, conducted from July 3 to 6, included 1,100 respondents.
Regarding potential parliamentary elections in Armenia, if held next Sunday, the ruling Civil Contract Party, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, would receive 14.4% of the votes. The survey showed that 3.7% would vote for ex-President Robert Kocharyan's opposition Armenia Bloc, which holds the second-largest faction in parliament. Other parties' support was as follows: the "Democracy, Law and Discipline" party (Vardan Ghukasian) at 3.5%, the "I Have Honor" Bloc (Serzh Sargsyan) at 2.3%, the "Tavush in the Name of Motherland" movement (Bagrat Srbazan) at 1.5%, the "Prosperous Armenia" party (Gagik Tsarukyan) at 1.2%, and the "Republic" party (Aram Sargsyan) at 0.6%. Additionally, 8.6% of respondents refused to vote for anyone, 22.5% were unsure, and 32.5% indicated they would not participate in the elections.
When evaluating Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's work, opinions were distributed as follows: "generally negative" at 40.3% (41.1% in May), "rather negative" at 14.5% (18.6% in May), "rather positive" at 21.7% (18.7% in May), "completely positive" at 13.4%, and 10.1% were unsure.
Participants were also asked if Armenia should withdraw from the EAEU to start the EU accession process, with 28.8% saying "definitely yes," 17.3% "rather yes," 15.6% "rather no," and 21.4% "definitely no." About 17% were unsure. Additionally, 34.2% were "definitely in favor" of Armenia becoming an EU member, 22.5% were "rather for," 11.7% were "rather against," and 19.1% were "definitely against," with 10% unsure.