Jesus Statue Builder Gagik Tsarukyan Enters the Race in Armenia’s 2026 Election

Gagik Tsarukyan, who is well known for his massive Jesus Christ project in Armenia, has announced that he and his political allies will take part in next year’s general elections. 

Tsarukyan emphasized the need for discussion and cooperation in Armenia, stating that no single person or party can solve the country’s problems alone. He said that experts from different fields will be involved and that members of the alliance do not necessarily need to belong to a political party.

Tsarukyan is the founding leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, which was the second-largest group in the former parliament. The party has previously challenged Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and demanded his resignation before the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

In September 2020, Tsarukyan was arrested on charges of vote buying just days before the war began. He rejected the accusations as politically motivated and was released on bail one month later. Following the war, the Prosperous Armenia party, like other opposition groups, criticized Pashinyan for Armenia’s defeat and attempted to remove him from office. In the snap elections of June 2021, the party did not win any seats, and Tsarukyan remained largely out of the public eye since then.

Ahead of the next elections, Tsarukyan appears to have formed an initial alliance with the small opposition party Democratic Alternative, led by Suren Sureniants. Sureniants is a veteran politician and commentator known for his criticism of Pashinyan. He confirmed that the two parties will participate in the elections as a united team and indicated that other opposition parties could also join the Tsarukyan-led bloc, though he did not name them.

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