The opposition Strong Armenia party has accused the Armenian authorities of using the pretrial detention of its Stepanavan mayoral candidate, Arsen Gevorgyan, and covert surveillance footage to undermine its campaign ahead of Sunday’s local elections, calling the move politically motivated and urging voters to support change. Below is its statement released on Friday.
“Further to the statement issued by Arsen Gevorgyan’s legal team, we state that the pretrial detention of Arsen Gevorgyan, the Strong Armenia party’s candidate for mayor of Stepanavan, just days before the local elections scheduled for October 25, constitutes yet another anti-democratic intervention that exposes the fears of the Civil Contract authorities.
Notably, these actions once again violate the requirements set out in the Constitutional Court’s decision of July 4, 2026, concerning the parliamentary elections. That decision makes clear that actions and statements by public officials that disregard the presumption of innocence are unacceptable, particularly during elections and the period preceding them.
Such conduct undermines the constitutional guarantees of free and fair elections, while the manner in which it is covered by the media and on social networks influences voters’ choices. We have repeatedly raised this concern. It is now also a requirement established by the Constitutional Court—one that has been flagrantly violated.
It is also important to note that the statement issued today by the legal team representing Arsen Gevorgyan, the Strong Armenia party’s candidate for mayor of Stepanavan, sets out grounds for dismissing the case against him.
The covert surveillance operation conducted by law enforcement agencies at the Strong Armenia party’s central campaign office in Stepanavan, where numerous matters concerning campaign strategy and tactics were discussed, is deeply troubling and anti-democratic in practice.
Such an operation must meet a particularly stringent standard of necessity. That standard was not met in this case.
We recall that there have been instances in which covert recordings made by law enforcement agencies, or their contents, appeared on pro-government news websites before being published on the relevant investigative authority’s website or social media page.
This provides reasonable grounds to infer that representatives of the ruling party had access to the results of the surveillance operation before they were made public on October 21, 2026, thereby compromising the integrity of the election campaign as a whole.
Any interference in elections—including the abuse of administrative resources, selective prosecution, double standards, favouritism and disregard for the presumption of innocence—is unacceptable, as are any cases of vote-buying established in accordance with the law.
At the same time, the manifestly disproportionate and repressive actions taken by law enforcement agencies are intended to secure an advantage in Sunday’s municipal council elections by tarnishing the Strong Armenia party’s reputation. Nevertheless, we are fully confident that the people of Stepanavan will show through their votes that every attempt to deceive them with such videos is doomed to fail.
Dear residents of Stepanavan, vote for change on October 25.
Do not allow your votes to be stolen.”
—