Following the formation of Armenia’s new government on 3 August, twelve of the same ministers retained their portfolios, with only one change at the cabinet level: David Tadevosyan was appointed Minister of High-Tech Industry, replacing Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, who apparently refused to accept a deputy appointed by Pashinyan above him. Earlier in June, Pashinyan stated that he saw no need for major changes. While this may have been true on the surface, he remained silent about what lay beneath it. The more telling story of Armenia’s new government lies not in the composition of the cabinet, but rather in the staffing changes, the appointment of parliamentary speakers, and the replacement of deputy ministers with Pashinyan loyalists whose entire political careers have unfolded under his wing. Taken together, these changes point to an elected leader who secured an outright plurality - 64 seats, amounting to three-fifths of a majority - yet is governing like a man who expects the next two years to be more difficult than the last two.

Chief of staff was assigned to Lilit Makunts, following the resignation of the outgoing chief of staff Arayik Harutyunyan, who, after spending five years in the position, decided to step down and return to parliament as an ordinary MP. As the outgoing chief of staff, Makunts, who served as Minister of Culture, parliamentary faction leader, Ambassador of Armenia to the United States, and advisor to the Prime Minister, has considerable institutional weight and belongs entirely to the political environment around Pashinyan. Thus, Pashinyan managed to replace a chief of staff who had, after five years in office, built his own networks and institutional weight. Pashinyan's new parliamentary speaker is Ruben Rubinyan, elected on August 3rd – Pashinyan’s personal envoy for negotiations on Armenia-Türkiye normalization talks and a protege with no political base at........

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