Today is Prime Minister Pashinyan's Birthday

Today marks the birthday of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Nikol Pashinyan was born on June 1, 1975, in the town of Ijevan.

He graduated from Ijevan High School No. 1.

From 1991 to 1995, he studied at Yerevan State University. He was expelled in his fifth year for political reasons.

Since 1992, he has been active in journalism. He worked for various newspapers, including 'Dprutyun', 'Hayastan', 'Lragir', 'Lragir Or', and 'Molorak'. In 1998, he founded the newspaper 'Ory', which was shut down in 1999 by a court decision for political reasons. In the same year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Haykakan Zhamanak', a position he held until 2012.

In August 1999, he was sentenced to one year in prison for political reasons. Later, due to the pressure from the international and Armenian journalism community, the appellate court postponed the enforcement of his sentence for a year, resulting in his imprisonment not being enforced.

In 2007, he became a founding member of the 'Alternative' public-political alliance. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, he was the first on the proportional list of the 'Impeachment' bloc, and in the 2008 presidential elections, he was a member of the electoral staff of presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

After March 1, 2008, being on the wanted list, he spent one year and four months in hiding. On July 1, 2009, he voluntarily presented himself to the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, where he was arrested and sentenced in January 2010 to seven years in prison for organizing mass unrest on March 1, 2008. He was widely recognized as a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience. After spending one year and eleven months in prison, he was released on May 27, 2011, in accordance with a clemency decision.

In the 2012 parliamentary elections, he was elected a member of the National Assembly from the proportional list of the 'Armenian National Congress' bloc. From 2012 to 2013, he served as the chairman of the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly.

In 2013, he founded the 'Civil Contract' public-political formation. From 2013 to 2015, he was a member of the management council of that formation, and from 2015, he has been a member of the board formed on the basis of the party.

In May 2016, he was the commander of the volunteer detachment of the 'Civil Contract' party.

In the April 2, 2017 parliamentary elections, he was elected as an MP from the electoral district No. 4, which includes the administrative districts of Yerevan: Kentron, Erebuni, Norq-Marash, and Nubarlashe.

Since May 2017, he has been the head of the 'YELQ' parliamentary faction.

On March 31, 2018, he initiated the 'My Step' movement from Vardanants Square in Gyumri, which led to a non-violent, popular, velvet revolution in April-May of the same year.

On May 8, 2018, he was elected Prime Minister of Armenia by the National Assembly, following the demands of the popular movement.

On October 16, 2018, he resigned to hold snap elections in accordance with his electoral promise, while performing the duties of acting Prime Minister. Nikol Pashinyan led the 'My Step' electoral alliance.

On December 9, 2018, the 'My Step' electoral alliance received around 70% of the vote in the National Assembly elections.

On January 14, 2019, in accordance with the first part of Article 149 and Article 89 of the Constitution, Nikol Pashinyan was appointed Prime Minister of Armenia.

He is married and has three daughters and one son.