19 Armenian Parties, Blocs Cleared To Run In June Elections

Karapetian’s Strong Armenia bloc was cleared to run in the June 7 elections along with former President Robert Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) led by another wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukian. The three opposition groups are expected to be the ruling Civil Contract party’s main election challengers.

Among other opposition contenders are former human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan’s Wings of Unity party, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress and Edmon Marukian’s Bright Armenia Party. Also in the running are three pro-government and pro-Western parties that have failed to agree on a joint list of candidates.

The elections will be held solely under the system of proportional representation. The parties will need to win at least 4 percent of the vote in order to be represented in the new Armenian parliament. The legal threshold for blocs is set at 8 percent.

Pashinian declared on April 17 that Strong Armenia, Hayastan and the BHK must not win any parliament seats. The statement contrasted with what senior senior members of Pashinian’s party said in March and February this year.

In a series of social media posts, they signaled concerns that the three opposition forces could collectively win a majority in the next parliament and thus oust Pashinian. They said at the same time that the country’s leadership “will not allow” such an outcome, stoking media speculation that at least some of the opposition heavyweights could be barred from the June 7 elections.

Although they all were registered by the CEC on Sunday, Armenian law allows the election body headed by a Pashinian ally to ask courts to disqualify in the coming weeks contenders accused by it of systematic vote buying or campaign financing irregularities. In recent weeks, dozens of Strong Armenia members and supporters have been detained on charges of bribing voters strongly denied by Karapetian’s bloc.

Karapetian is facing separate charges brought against him following his controversial arrest in June 2025. The Russian-Armenian tycoon remains under house arrest and will therefore not be able to physically attend campaign rallies. But he is allowed to receive aides, loyalists and journalists and make public statements from his Yerevan mansion. In one such interview publicized on Sunday, Karapetian warned Pashinian’s government against trying to win the June 7 ballot through fraud or foul play.

“Rest assured that we will win,” he said. “They will not manage to do anything. They have been doing everything for 10 months, nothing has worked. But if they suddenly take such ridiculous steps, that will have serious consequences.”

A senior member of Kocharian’s bloc, Artur Khachatrian, likewise implicitly warned on Monday of post-election protests in Yerevan.

“When Pashinian sees that he cannot cling to power through fair elections, I am sure that he will try to seize power, to stage a coup d’état,” claimed Khachatrian. “But the voters, the people must be ready to stand by their votes.”

The opposition Republican Party led by another ex-president, Serzh Sarkisian, has expressed readiness to join such protests despite its decision not to participate in the elections due to an apparent lack of public support.

“If the current regime seizes power again through the abuse of administrative resources and unacceptable methods under unequal conditions, the Republican Party is ready to take its place at the forefront of a post-election struggle,” Sarkisian said last week.

Pashinian’s aides and political allies did not respond to the opposition warnings on Monday. The CEC chairman, Vahagn Hovakimian, insisted in December that he will do his best to ensure the proper conduct of the polls.

Pashinian and his party are already accused by the opposition of trying to buy votes with public money as well as through a private charity run by the premier’s wife, Anna Hakobian. No Civil Contract party member is known to have been prosecuted on corresponding charges.

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