Pashinyan proposes license amnesty for suspended drivers before decisive June 7 vote

By Siranush Adamyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has proposed easing restrictions for drivers stripped of their licenses under Armenia’s traffic penalty points system. Critics say the move is aimed at winning votes ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan made the proposal on Saturday after meeting protesters campaigning for an amnesty for drivers deprived of their licenses. The same day, he published the initiative on Facebook and launched a 48-hour online poll asking users whether they supported the idea.

“After lengthy discussions,” Pashinyan wrote on Facebook, drivers who lost their licenses would be allowed to restore them after one year without retaking an exam, provided they pay a state fee.

Under the proposal, drivers would then enter a one-year probation period and receive six penalty points instead of the standard 13.

“If during that year the driver does not lose those six points or lose the license again, then the following year they return to the normal system with 13 points,” Pashinyan said.

If the driver loses the six points or is stripped of the license again, they would face another one-year ban. They would then have to pass exams to restore their license.

The initiative followed months of protests in Yerevan by drivers who had lost their licenses because of accumulated penalty points. Demonstrators gathered outside the government building demanding an amnesty and the restoration of their driving rights.

Protesters argued that the points-based system was overly harsh and failed to account for poor road infrastructure, inconsistent signage and problematic traffic organization. According to reporting by Azatutyun, 5,450 people were stripped of their driving licenses in 2025 alone. Authorities also recorded 9,466 cases of people driving despite having lost their licenses. The figure has nearly quadrupled over the past five years.

The proposal quickly triggered backlash from journalists and commentators.

Journalist and editor Harutyun Mansuryan accused the prime minister of putting political interests ahead of public safety.

“When people are dying on the roads every day, by returning drunk drivers and those deprived of licenses to the wheel, the prime minister is declaring a road war,” Mansuryan wrote on Facebook. “The only goal of this proposed populism is to get their votes.”

Mansuryan shared alongside his post a recent report by Hetq Media Factory examining Armenia’s road safety problems and accident statistics.

Journalist Tatul Hakobyan also criticized the initiative. He wrote that Armenia would become a “real society” when “150,000 law-abiding drivers” protest against the decision to return licenses to “5,000 drunk and irredeemable drivers.”

Road safety concerns

A recent investigation by Hetq Media Factory found that Armenia still lacks an officially approved national road safety strategy, despite work on a policy document beginning in 2019 with support from the Asian Development Bank.

The report described 2023 as Armenia’s deadliest recent year for road accidents, with 378 fatalities recorded.

Pashinyan has argued that fatalities have since declined. He said there were 45 fewer deaths in 2024 and another 50 fewer in 2025 compared with 2023.

But journalists and experts interviewed by Hetq questioned whether the decline reflects a lasting trend. The report said fatalities fluctuate from year to year, while the number of injuries continues to rise.

According to the report, Armenia recorded more than 4,000 crashes involving injuries or fatalities in the first 11 months of 2025 alone.

The report also highlighted infrastructure shortcomings, saying dangerous road sections often lack proper signage, lighting and preventive measures.

The investigation noted that authorities have addressed 59 accident “black spots” with support from the European Union and the World Bank. Another 40 dangerous sites are slated for upgrades.

Opponents of Pashinyan’s proposal argue that easing restrictions could increase dangerous driving and weaken deterrence at a time when Armenia continues to struggle with high accident rates.

According to official statistics cited by critics, 283 people died and 7,073 were injured in road accidents in Armenia in 2025.