[3] The National Council then sent representatives to Batumi to negotiate a peace settlement with the Ottoman Empire, which was fighting the Armenians in the area near Yerevan.
Wanting to impress European powers with their democratic form, the Dashnaks in forming the cabinet entered into a coalition with the Populists party, in which they equally held less than half the positions, with the ninth position being delegated to a non-partisan: Following the controversial declaration of United Armenia upon the first anniversary of the Armenian Republic, on 28 May 1919, the Populists, directed by their party headquarters in Tiflis in a volte-face broke off from the Dashnak coalition government and subsequently boycotted the parliamentary elections some months later.
The Armenian National Council and the Cabinet travelled to Yerevan via Azerbaijani railroads, to avoid the areas under Ottoman occupation.
As well as members of the four parties, the new legislature also included non-partisan Armenian politicians and representatives of minorities in the republic: six Muslims, one Yezidi and one Russian.
The Khorhurd first convened on 1 August 1918 and was attended by dignitaries and emissaries of the Central Powers including observers from Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.