Armenia’s Parliament has adopted amendments to the electoral code prohibiting the use of personal names in the names of party alliances. The newly formed alliance of Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan was the only bloc whose name included a personal name.
The amendments, proposed by three MPs from the ruling Civil Contract party, were discussed in a session on Tuesday and were eventually passed with 67 votes in favour and 6 against.
The changes, along with other amendments, came ahead of the 7 June parliamentary elections and five days before the nomination of candidates starts.
Such regulation existed in the electoral code but was removed by the end of 2024 — Civil Contract MPs claim the removal was a result of a ‘technical error’ that they recently noticed.
The timing appeared to coincide with Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party announcing on 31 March that it had formed a coalition named Strong Armenia with Samvel Karapetyan.
Karapetyan, who is currently under house arrest and faces multiple charges in Armenia, has been named the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
The decision was made despite the fact that under Armenia’s constitution, Karapetyan is ineligible to run for parliament or become prime minister as he holds Russian and Cypriot citizenships in addition to being Armenian. The tycoon has also not lived in the country for the past four years.
In his stead, his nephew Narek Karapetyan has taken a lead in the party’s campaign.
Alongside Karapetyan’s party, the coalition includes two smaller, less prominent parties, New Era and United Armenians. Earlier talks had considered including more established parties, such as the Armenian National Congress under Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, but negotiations failed to produce an agreement.
On Tuesday, the opposition criticised the speedy changes to the electoral code, claiming there was a political pretext, as Karapetyan is Civil Contract’s main political opponent in the upcoming elections.
‘The largest opposition political force that has declared its participation has already announced its name, and suddenly you introduce a law that restricts and prohibits doing that’, the head of the opposition I Have Honour faction, Hayk Mamijanyan said.
He further described the initiative as ‘unlawful’.
Representatives of the ruling party defended their initiative, saying it aligns with the logic of the proportional electoral system, so that elections ‘would revolve around political parties rather than individuals’.
As the session was underway, Karapetyan’s alliance protested against the changes near parliament.
Most of the protesters approached by Factor TV refused to comment on the demonstration, or denied they were taking part in it altogether. The footage was shared online by ruling party members, who mocked Karapetyan’s party and said the attendees ‘don’t know why they have gathered’.
They also questioned the ‘spontaneous’ nature of the gathering, as Karapetyan’s team described it.
‘If this is the strong part of the opposition, what’s the state of the rest?’ Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan said, ridiculing the small turnout of the gathering in a Facebook post.
He also urged opposition supporters to frequent the area near the parliament, as ‘it’s actually quite fun’.
—
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Karagyozian Lena. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2026/04/08/major-armenian-opposition-alliance-forced-to-drop-karapetyans-name-after-legi/