Journalists and opposition supporters gathered outside Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) building on Friday, where officials spent more than two hours deliberating whether to admit the opposition party “Strong Armenia” to upcoming elections.
Menua Soghomonyan, a Hayakve socio-political movement representative, described the situation as “tragic,” stating that everything was unfolding in tragedy and emphasizing that Armenian Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan no longer held power. He added that promises made had not been fulfilled.
Aram Vardevayan, lawyer for the Strong Armenia party, asserted there were no legal grounds to cancel registration, saying, “We were convinced that there could be no result from this, because there were no legal grounds and there cannot be.”
The CEC head, Vahagn Hovakimyan, announced on June 5 that the commission had not revoked Samvel Karapetyan’s bloc of registration for elections scheduled for June 7. The decision followed an appeal by Aram Sargsyan, leader of the pro-Western Republika Party, after an appeal from Prime Minister Pashinyan.
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in April that Russia seeks to see pro-Russian political forces within Armenia’s election process. He noted that some pro-Russian politicians were imprisoned in Armenia despite holding Russian passports and that over 2 million Armenians reside on Russian territory. Putin also indicated that internal political tensions ahead of the elections should not harm relations between Moscow and Yerevan, while Prime Minister Pashinyan stressed that bilateral ties would remain strong regardless of election outcomes.
