Way Out Alliance

{{Short description|Political alliance in Armenia of three parties}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = Way Out Alliance

| logo = Way Out Alliance logo.jpg

| colorcode = {{party color|Way Out Alliance}}

| leader = Edmon Marukyan (LH)
Nikol Pashinyan (KP)
Aram Sargsyan (H)

| deputy_leader =

| president =

| chairman =

| general_secretary =

| first_secretary =

| secretary_general =

| presidium =

| secretary =

| spokesperson =

| foundation = {{Start date|2016|12|12|df=y}}

| dissolved = 12 September 2018

| ideology = Liberalism[http://eufoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Armenia2017PartypoliticalLandscapeGuide_28March-2017.pdf Armenia 2017: An introduction to the party-political landscape] European Friends of Armenia, March 2017
Pro-Europeanism
Anti-EAEU[http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/234256/ Armenia elections: YELQ program taps army reform, EU association] PanArmenian.Net, 6 March 2017[http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/country/view/37429 Yelq Parliamentary Group Initiates Process of Leaving EAEU] Lragir.am, 14 September 2017
Anti-Russian sentiment{{Cite web|url=https://epress.am/2018/04/18/%D4%BA%D5%A1%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%AB%D6%81-%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%AB-%D5%B0%D5%AB%D5%B4%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6-%D5%BA%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1.html|title =The main paradox of modern Armenia}}
Armenian civic nationalism

| headquarters = Yerevan

| head_office =

| international =

| website =

| country = Armenia

| seats1 =

| seats1_title = National Assembly

| merger =

| seats2 =

| seats2_title =

| native_name = «Ելք» դաշինք

| colors = {{colorbox|{{party color|Way Out Alliance}}}} Orange

| position = Centre[https://www.voanews.com/a/armenian-vote-parliament-sarkisian-tsarukian/3792412.html Armenians Vote as Nation Shifts Toward Parliamentary Governance] voanews.com, 1 April 2017

}}

The Way Out Alliance ({{langx|hy|«Ելք» դաշինք, ԵԼՔ}}; YELK Dashink, YELQ) or Yelk Alliance or simply Yelk or Way Out was a liberal political alliance of three political parties in Armenia: Civil Contract, Bright Armenia and the Hanrapetutyun Party. It was formed on 12 December 2016,[http://armenianweekly.com/2017/01/24/new-opposition-bloc-formed-in-armenia/ New Opposition Bloc Formed in Armenia] The Armenian Weekly, 24 January 2017 before the 2017 Armenian parliamentary election. Its leaders were Edmon Marukyan (leader of Bright Armenia), Nikol Pashinyan (leader of Civil Contract), and Aram Sargsyan (leader of Hanrapetutyun and former Prime Minister of Armenia). The alliance was dissolved on 12 September 2018 after its constituent parties agreed to participate in the 2018 parliamentary elections separately.

History

On 2 April 2017, the alliance participated in the 2017 Armenian parliamentary election with Edmon Marukyan as leader of the alliance and won 9 seats out of 105 in the National Assembly. Prior to the election, the Union for National Self-Determination, another liberal Pro-European party, also wished to join the Way Out Alliance, however their request was never responded too.{{Cite web|url=https://news.am/eng/news/363409.html|title = Union of National Self-Determination to take part in parliamentary elections of Armenia}}

After parliamentary elections, the alliance participated in the 2017 Yerevan City Council election. The alliance's candidate for Mayor of Yerevan was Nikol Pashinyan.[https://news.am/eng/news/383357.html Nikol Pashinyan is Yerevan mayoral candidate of opposition Yelk Bloc], News.am, 7 April 2017. However, the alliance won only 14 seats out of 65 in the Yerevan City Council and Nikol Pashinyan gave up his mandate of City Council and continued his work in the National Assembly as an MP.[http://hetq.am/eng/news/78785/nikol-pashinyan-headed-for-parliament-not-yerevan-council.html Nikol Pashinyan Headed for Parliament, Not Yerevan Council], hetq.am, 15 May 2017.[https://news.am/eng/news/389995.html Nikol Pashinyan decides to take parliamentary mandate], News.am, 15 May 2017.

The alliance supported the goals of the 2018 Armenian Revolution and actively participated in street protests supporting Nikol Pashinyan.

The alliance did not participate in the 2018 Yerevan City Council election. Bright Armenia and the Hanrapetutyun Party formed another alliance - Bright Alliance. Meanwhile, Civil Contract formed the My Step Alliance with the Mission Party. The My Step Alliance won the municipal elections and their candidate Hayk Marutyan was appointed as the Mayor of Yerevan. Bright Alliance came in third place, winning 3 seats out of 65 in the Yerevan City Council.

Ideology

The Way Out Alliance's ideology was based on liberalism. The three parties, especially Bright Armenia and Hanrapetutyun, are considerably pro-European and support Armenia's European integration. In terms of foreign relations of Armenia, the alliance stated that Armenia's decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union was wrong and had a negative impact on the country. The alliance proposed to renegotiate with the European Union on signing an Association Agreement along with a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.[https://www.evnreport.com/elections-2017/foreign-policy-discourse Foreign Policy Discourse] EVN Report, 16 March 2017

Composition

class=wikitable style=text-align:left
colspan=2\|Party !Leader
bgcolor="{{party color\|Civil Contract}}"\| \| Civil Contract (KP) \| Nikol Pashinyan
bgcolor="{{party color\|Bright Armenia}}"\| \| Bright Armenia (LH) \| Edmon Marukyan
bgcolor="{{party color\|Hanrapetutyun Party}}"\| \| Hanrapetutyun Party (H) \| Aram Sargsyan

class=wikitable style=text-align:left

colspan=2|Party

!Leader

bgcolor="{{party color|Civil Contract}}"|

| Civil Contract (KP)

| Nikol Pashinyan

bgcolor="{{party color|Bright Armenia}}"|

| Bright Armenia (LH)

| Edmon Marukyan

bgcolor="{{party color|Hanrapetutyun Party}}"|

| Hanrapetutyun Party (H)

| Aram Sargsyan

Electoral record

= Parliamentary elections =

class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
Election ! Votes ! % ! Seats ! Government
rowspan=2 \| 2017 \| rowspan=2 \| 122,049 \| rowspan=2 \| 7.78 \| rowspan=2 \| {{Composition bar\|9\|105\|hex={{party color\|Way Out Alliance}}}} \| {{no2\|Opposition (2017-2018)}}
{{yes2\|Government (2018–2019)}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"

Election

! Votes

! %

! Seats

! Government

rowspan=2 | 2017

| rowspan=2 | 122,049

| rowspan=2 | 7.78

| rowspan=2 | {{Composition bar|9|105|hex={{party color|Way Out Alliance}}}}

| {{no2|Opposition (2017-2018)}}

=Local elections=

== Yerevan City Council elections ==

class="wikitable" ! style="width: 20px" \|Election ! style="width: 130px" \|Mayor candidate ! style="width: 60px" \|Votes ! style="width: 20px" \|% ! style="width: 20px" \|Seats in City Council
2017 \| {{center\| Nikol Pashinyan}} \| {{center\| 70,730}} \| {{center\| 21%}} \| {{Composition bar\|14\|65\|hex={{party color\|Way Out Alliance}}}}

class="wikitable"

! style="width: 20px" |Election

! style="width: 130px" |Mayor candidate

! style="width: 60px" |Votes

! style="width: 20px" |%

! style="width: 20px" |Seats in City Council

2017

| {{center| Nikol Pashinyan}}

| {{center| 70,730}}

| {{center| 21%}}

| {{Composition bar|14|65|hex={{party color|Way Out Alliance}}}}