Former President Robert Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance said on Tuesday that it will ask Armenia’s Constitutional Court to annul the official results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections that have also been rejected as fraudulent by other opposition groups.
According to the preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission (CEC), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won the elections with 49.8 percent of the vote. Billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia bloc came in a distant second with 23.3 percent, followed by Hayastan which got almost 10 percent.
The official figures also showed that none of the other major opposition forces won at least 4 percent of the vote needed for being represented in the country’s new parliament. Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) fell just several dozen votes short of that legal threshold.
The BHK, Strong Armenia and Hayastan and the BHK alleged numerous irregularities throughout the voting and ballot counting accompanied by continuing arrests of their members or supporters accused of vote buying. They also cried foul after Pashinian claimed a “historic victory” early on Monday when less than one-fifth of the ballots cast were counted by election officials.
The premier’s political allies deny that his statement predetermined the vote results. Kocharian claimed on Monday evening that they were seriously affected by “widespread government pressure, arrests of oppositionists, unprecedented use of administrative resources, and electoral violations.” Ishkhan Saghatelian, a leading Hayastan figure, echoed the claim the next day when he announced the opposition bloc’s decision to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
“Despite clearly understanding who sits in the Constitutional Court, their constraints and the fact that they are clearly government appendages, we will go to the Constitutional Court with weighty facts after the publication of the final [election] results,” he told a news conference. “Our legal team is working on a package.”
Both Hayastan and Strong Armenia faced calls from some opposition supporters to refuse to take up their parliament seats in protest against the alleged vote rigging. They seemed reluctant to do that. Karapetian’s right-hand man and nephew Narek indicated on Tuesday that his bloc’s decision on the issue depends on whether the BHK will succeed in gaining parliament seats.
Tsarukian’s party initiated ballot recounts in some electoral precincts for that purpose. It claimed late on Monday to have already found glaring discrepancies between the numbers of BHK votes shown in several precinct protocols and the CEC tally. The BHK’s entry into the new National Assembly would strip Civil Contract of a 60 percent majority needed for the passage of some key laws and parliamentary confirmation of senior law-enforcement officials and judges handpicked by Pashinian. Narek Karapetian emphasized this fact.
Another senior Strong Armenia member, Gohar Meloyan, said Karapetian’s bloc too may appeal to the Constitutional Court. She said the decision will be made after the CEC releases the final election results on Sunday.
Strong Armenia as well as Hayastan and another opposition party led by former human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan have also demanded vote recounts in dozens of polling stations in and outside Yerevan. Tatoyan said on Monday that the official results released by the CEC “do not reflect the true will of the citizens of Armenia.”
—
Armenian Opposition Leader Indicted Amid Vote Recounts
- Naira Bulghadarian
- Shoghik Galstian
- Ruzanna Stepanian
Prosecutors reported new criminal charges against businessman and opposition leader Gagik Tsarukian on Tuesday just as his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) scrambled to ensure its presence in the country’s new parliament through vote recounts initiated by it.
According to the preliminary official results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, the BHK lacked several dozen votes to clear a 4 percent legal threshold for being represented in the National Assembly. The BHK suggested that the Central Election Commission (CEC) resorted to “trickery” to steal its parliament seats and give the ruling Civil Contract party a more comfortable majority in the assembly.
The opposition party claimed late on Monday to have found glaring discrepancies between the numbers of BHK votes shown in several precinct protocols and the results reported by the CEC. It said that 120 such votes were not added to the CEC tally.
The BHK also initiated vote recounts in dozens of other polling stations. The recounts confirmed on Tuesday afternoon the fact that Tsarukian’s party got 96 votes in two rural precincts in the central Kotayk province. The CEC recorded only 4 such votes there.
A spokeswoman for the electoral body headed by a longtime collaborator of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said that these and other “inaccuracies” will be corrected before the release of the final election results expected on Sunday. The BHK presence in the Armenian parliament will remain in doubt until then.
That presence would deny Civil Contract a 60 percent majority needed for the passage of some key laws and parliamentary confirmation of senior law-enforcement officials and judges handpicked by Pashinian. Opposition leaders claim that the authorities are therefore trying hard to bar the BHK from the parliament because of that.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Tsarukian has been charged with large-scale tax evasion and banned from leaving the country pending investigation. It declined to give any details.
Under Armenian law, election candidates cannot be prosecuted without the CEC’s consent. The CEC spokeswoman insisted that the prosecutors have not yet asked the commission for such permission.
Pashinian has repeatedly pledged to imprison Tsarukian as well as the leaders of the two main opposition groups challenging him. During the election campaign, he announced the impending nationalization of Armenia’s largest cement plant belonging to Tsarukian. He went on to promise to “return to the people” the tycoon’s properties, notably a hilltop villa just outside Yerevan, in case of winning the June 7 polls.
Critics portray these statements as further proof that law-enforcement authorities are acting on Pashinian’s illegal orders. Hundreds of opposition members and supporters were detained on vote-buying charges in the run-up to the elections. The arrests continued on election day.
—
Jailed Karabakh Activist’s Hunger Strike Enters Fourth Week
- Anush Mkrtchian
An exiled activist from Nagorno-Karabakh arrested on May 18 right after publicly arguing with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan remained on hunger strike for the 22nd day on Tuesday.
Pashinian was approached by Artur Osipian as he campaigned in the city’s northern Arabkir district for the June 7 parliamentary elections. Osipian asked him questions and criticized his policies on Karabakh, sparking a furious reaction from him. Moments after his supporters and bodyguards dragged away Osipian, Pashinian picked up a megaphone and rushed towards the Karabakh Armenian man, shouting insults and threats also addressed to “Karabakh pseudo-elites.”
“You should have died when there was the Karabakh issue. Why are you alive at all, you scumbag?” cried the premier.
Osipian, who publicly campaigned against Karabakh’s last leadership before the region’s recapture by Azerbaijan, was arrested and indicted following the incident. Armenia’s Investigative Committee claimed that he disrupted public order and obstructed the ruling Civil Contract’s election campaign. It also charged him with calling for a violent attack on Pashinian in a social media post in March.
Osipian, who denies the accusations, went on hunger strike to protest against his arrest and demand an apology from Pashinian. He is continuing to refuse food at Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison. Armenia’s chief prison medic, Kamo Manukian, has refused to comment on his health condition, citing privacy grounds.
“He is very emaciated, having lost a lot of weight,” Osipian’s lawyer, Davit Hovannisian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Osipian’s arrest has been condemned by opposition groups and more than a dozen Western-funded Armenian civic organizations. In a joint statement issued late last month, they said he is prosecuted on “illegal, baseless and politically motivated” charges and demanded his immediate release.
During his campaign tour of Arabkir, Pashinian also lost his temper after being confronted by several other disgruntled citizens. They included the sister of a senior military medic who went missing during the 2020 war in Karabakh. The woman blamed Pashinian for her loss and accused him of having “stolen my fatherland.”
Pashinian responded by manhandling her, linking her to the leaders of Armenia’s three main opposition groups and pledging to “take out” them. Law-enforcement authorities refused to launch a criminal investigation into his threats.
—
RFE/RL – Man Prosecuted For Fearing Post-Election Unrest In Armenia
- Naira Bulghadarian
- Susan Badalian
Law-enforcement authorities have detained and indicted a Russia-based Armenian national who voiced fears of post-election unrest in Armenia when he arrived in Yerevan to vote in Sunday’s legislative polls.
The man, Hovannes Sahakian, was interviewed by the Shant TV channel on his arrival at the Zvartnots airport on Sunday morning. He said he and his wife will fly back to Russia hours after casting ballots.
“The situation may get messy,” explained Sahakian. “We are here with the kids and don’t want to get into trouble.”
Sahakian was arrested at Zvartnots later that day as he was about board a return flight to Russia. Armenia’s Investigative Committee charged him with failure to alert relevant authorities about a planned “usurpation of power” in the country.
Sahakian was released from custody but banned from leaving the country. He denies the accusations carrying fines and up to one month in prison. Sahakian’s lawyer, Karine Margarian, insisted on Tuesday that he simply expressed his concerns about possible post-election unrest and did not speak of any coup plots.
“I just don’t know how the investigators are going to corroborate their accusation,” Margarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “It’s totally baseless.”
Sahakian’s arrest came amid allegations by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s aides and political allies that Armenians living in Russia are paid to travel to the country and vote for the main opposition Strong Armenia alliance led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian. They did not offer any proof of the allegations.
On the eve of the June 7 elections, Pashinian’s entourage openly warned the expats and especially men not to come to Armenia for the polls. A deputy chief of Pashinian’s staff and a news website controlled by the ruling Civil Contract party said that the men would be called up for short military service immediately after entering the country. In a clearly related development, military police officers were deployed at the Yerevan airport over the weekend,
The chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Eduard Asrian, declined to say on Tuesday how many male citizens, if any, were included in the latest 25-day callup of reservists on their arrival from Russia.
“I don’t have such information,” he told reporters.
Asrian, who has been accused by the opposition and some media of ordering military personnel to vote for Pashinian’s party, also said that Armenian expats should not visit their country to take part in its elections.
The Armenian authorities claimed in March this year that a foreign, presumably Russian, intelligence service is pressuring wealthy Armenians doing business abroad to support opposition forces challenging Pashinian in the June 7 polls. The Investigative Committee opened a relevant criminal case at the time. Nobody is known to have been indicted in that probe.
—
Armenia’s child rights reforms presented at high-level event in Greece
Armenian Ambassador to Greece Tigran Mkrtchyan has presented the Armenian government’s reforms in the protection of children’s rights during a high-level event at the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki. The ambassador chaired one of the panel discussions and delivered remarks at the event titled “The Role of Academia in Promoting Child Rights,” organized at the initiative of the UNICEF office in Greece, the Armenian Embassy said.
The high-level event brought together ambassadors from several countries, representatives of international organizations, and sector experts.
Ambassador Mkrtchyan addressed reforms implemented by the Armenian government in the field of child rights protection, highlighting the importance of the new Law on the Rights of the Child and the Child Protection System adopted in 2025, as well as programs in education, healthcare, and social protection.
The ambassador highly valued the effective cooperation between Armenia and UNICEF, emphasizing the organization’s important contribution to the development of child rights protection, inclusive education, healthcare, and social support systems.
In his remarks, he also focused on protecting children in the digital space, ensuring online safety, and the importance of international cooperation to uphold children’s rights in the face of misinformation and other contemporary challenges.
The ambassador also referred to programs and initiatives aimed at protecting children’s rights in Armenian schools and higher education institutions, noting that, at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the 2025–2026 academic year in the general education system has been declared the “Year of a Safe and Secure Educational Environment.”
The participants of the event exchanged views on existing challenges, best practices, and prospects for multilateral cooperation in the field of child rights protection.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Pashinyan sees at least 6% economic growth from U.S. agreements
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has lauded the first practical results of the agreements signed with the United States on August 8 last year pertaining to the technology and AI sectors.
“I would like to remind you that President Trump and I signed several memoranda of understanding on August 8, 2025,” Pashinyan told Members of Parliament during a joint committee session on the government’s 2025 budget report.
“One of them concerned programs and cooperation in the field of high technology and artificial intelligence,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan highlighted what he described as several concrete results that have already been achieved in the 10 months since the agreement was signed.
He pointed to the artificial intelligence center established at Yerevan State University and noted that the government has purchased a supercomputer for the university.
“The government allocated $10 million and purchased a supercomputer for Yerevan State University,” Pashinyan said.
“The first artificial intelligence factory has already opened in Gagarin, and in the coming days, a second artificial intelligence factory will open in Hrazdan,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the Eleveight AI and Firebird projects.
Pashinyan said the process represents a major technological transition for Armenia and could have a significant impact on the country’s international reputation and investment climate.
“Having access to such technologies and being a favorable and attractive destination for such investments, of course, significantly changes both the international image of the Republic of Armenia and our economic and investment environment,” he said.
The Prime Minister also expressed confidence that the combined impact of the TRIPP project and the initiatives being implemented in the field of artificial intelligence would contribute to sustainable economic growth.
“I believe that, within the framework of the TRIPP project and these processes surrounding artificial intelligence, we will be able to ensure annual economic growth of at least 6%, which creates a guarantee that we will successfully implement our reforms, including those in the social sector,” Pashinyan stated.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
No outcome-affecting violations recorded in June 7 elections – CEC
Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia, Vahagn Hovakimyan, announced on Monday that no violations occurred during the voting in the June 7 parliamentary elections that could have affected the results.
Speaking at a press briefing, he stated that he supports conducting a recount of votes in all polling stations.
“We are now at a point where the passing threshold of a political force can essentially be decided by a few votes. Therefore, we need to have a highly precise picture,” Hovakimyan said.
The preliminary vote count results from all 2,005 polling stations have been tallied, with a turnout of 1,477,736 voters (nearly 59 percent).
The votes received by the four leading political forces are as follows:
Civil Contract Party – 727,160 votes, or 49.825%
Strong Armenia Alliance – 340,088 votes, or 23.281%
Armenia Alliance – 145,113 votes, or 9.934%
Prosperous Armenia Party – 58,378 votes, or 3.996%
Earlier results released by the electoral commission showed Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia having garnered exactly 4%, the minimum threshold required to enter parliament. However, the updated data shows otherwise.
Hovakimyan emphasized that these figures are preliminary and that a phase of verification and recounting is still ahead.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Moldova President congratulates Pashinyan on election victory
President of Moldova Maia Sandu has congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after preliminary election results showed that his Civil Contract party will retain a majority in parliament.
“Heartfelt congratulations to Nikol Pashinyan on your election victory, won despite massive foreign interference. Moldova and Armenia share a commitment to peace and stability in Europe, and I look forward to deepening our dialogue and working closely together in the years ahead,” President Sandu said on X.
The Civil Contract Party garnered 727,160 votes, or 49.825%, in the June 7 parliamentary elections.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Prime Minister Pashinyan holds phone call with European Council President Anto
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has held a telephone conversation with European Council President Antonio Costa.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office of Armenia, President Costa congratulated Prime Minister Pashinyan on the outcome of the elections, noting that the people of Armenia voted for peace, stability, and a future based on closer cooperation with neighbours and the wider world.
Antonio Costa praised Prime Minister Pashinyan’s leadership and his contribution to strengthening Armenia’s resilience, stability, and prosperity. He stressed that the European Union will continue to deepen its partnership with Armenia, expanding cooperation in the fields of energy, trade, and digitalisation.
Prime Minister Pashinyan thanked President Costa for his support and warm remarks, highlighting the importance of the development of Armenia-European Union relations.
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional developments and the peace agenda, underlining the importance of establishing lasting peace and stability in the region. Both sides reaffirmed their readiness to further strengthen Armenia-EU cooperation for a more peaceful and prosperous future.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Armenia elections: EU urges all political actors to respect vote outcome
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, issued a statement on behalf of the EU commending the high level of civic participation in the Armenian parliamentary elections held on June 7.
The EU also called on all political actors to respect the outcome of the vote.
Below is the full statement.
“The European Union congratulates the citizens of the Republic of Armenia on exercising their sovereign democratic right to vote in parliamentary elections and commends the high level of civic participation. The vote shows Armenia’s firm commitment to democracy, peace and enhanced cooperation in the region as well as closer ties with Europe.
According to the preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission, although the campaign was highly polarized, the elections were managed in an inclusive manner, offered clear political alternatives, and were well organised, under a sound legal framework.
The electoral campaign and the voting took place in a context of unprecedented interference, pressure and persistent hybrid attacks from Russia, including via economic coercion measures that have sought to undermine the democratic process and incite polarisation. Nevertheless, the elections reflect Armenia’s democratic resilience and progress on its reform path. They also underscored the Armenian people’s commitment to European values, peaceful political participation, and the pursuit of a stable, secure and prosperous future.
The EU takes note of the preliminary results announced by Armenia’s electoral authorities, which indicate a clear lead for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. We call on all political actors to respect the outcome of the vote, democratic procedures and make use of legal mechanisms to address any electoral complaints.
The EU stands firmly with Armenia and its people and remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting Armenia on its democratic path and to further deepening our partnership. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the future government and parliament of Armenia, to implement their comprehensive reform agenda, promote regional peace, economic growth and connectivity, with a view to strengthening Armenia’s sovereignty, resilience, democracy and prosperity.”
Published by Armenpress, original at
—