Whereas, the external and internal challenges exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic may pose existential threats to the Armenian State and the nation;

Whereas, we are at an initial stage of the crisis and will face increasingly more severe consequences soon;

Whereas, the current government has neither the political will nor the capabilities to overcome the crisis with own resources and that Armenia’s current political field is demoralized and cannot represent the political will of the society;

Whereas, non-partisan consolidation is an effective way to manage and overcome the crisis;

Whereas, our goal is to create prerequisites and conditions for building an independent, democratic, and viable Armenian State;

We, the undersigned, start a process of creating the NDA to pursue our goals.

We aim to do so by setting up and implementing a transitional crisis-management program.

We plan to take the following political actions: to mobilize the national- democratic resources, to form a transitional crisis-management government, which will be capable of effectively implementing the transitional program and overcoming the crisis after an inevitable resignation of the current administration. (ed. 08.29.2020)

We strongly believe that the crisis-management program must be based on a broad national consensus and inclusiveness. The fundamental priorities of the program must be to strengthen the sovereignty of the State and establish unified effective governance of Armenia and Artsakh. To achieve these fundamental priorities, the following political actions and reforms must be implemented:

1. Ensure the health, food, energy, and defense security as well as provide conditions for large-scale repatriation to Armenia.
2. Provide a legal and political assessment of the past in Armenia.
3. Implement Transitional Justice based on this assessment, including:
   1. Criminal Justice.
   2. Lustration of political, economic, and foreign intelligence networks and as a result a ban on activities of parties (and their leaderships) that were an integral part of the past regimes.
4. Adoption of a new Constitution taking into account the legal and political assessments of the past.
5. Drafting and adoption of a new Electoral Code and a Law on Political Parties then hold early parliamentary elections based on these newly adopted laws. (ed. 08.29.2020)

We expect that the adoption of the new Constitution, the Electoral Code, and the Law on Political Parties and early parliamentary elections will be completed in a one-year period. The newly elected authorities will implement the rest of the program within a reasonable time frame.
We stress that political parties and individuals who join this Declaration will be free to choose the format for participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held after the completion of the one-year transitional period.
We urge all political factions and individuals, who recognize the scale of the challenges faced by the Armenian State and the nation to join the initiative and consolidate their efforts to build the NDA.
May 15, 2020
Yerevan
Armenia