This article is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original in English here.
Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission has rejected an appeal to deregister the opposition Strong Armenia alliance, just one day before key parliamentary elections.
The alliance, founded by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, has for several months polled second behind Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party and is widely seen as the main challenger to the incumbent government.
The decision was made late at night, in the early hours of Saturday, in response to an appeal filed on Friday by representatives of the Republic party — a small opposition force that has worked closely with Civil Contract. In 2023, the two parties formed a ruling coalition in the Yerevan City Council after no single political force won a majority in the capital’s municipal elections.
The leader of the Republic party, Aram Sargsyan, announced his intention to petition the CEC to disqualify Strong Armenia from the elections during the final televised candidate debates on Thursday.
“We’ll see what they do — whether their judicial system reacts, or whether the Prime Minister once again shifts the responsibility onto the judiciary, claiming that it has not yet been reformed,” Sargsyan said.
This came after he asked Pashinyan why the authorities themselves were not seeking to cancel Strong Armenia’s registration, despite allegations of widespread vote-buying by the alliance.
Pashinyan replied that he would not do so personally, as it would spark accusations that the authorities were afraid of losing the election. Instead, he urged others to appeal to the CEC if they believed such measures were justified.
“I urge you to submit such an appeal tomorrow morning as a matter of urgency,” he said.
Since early May, the authorities have announced new criminal investigations almost daily into alleged vote-buying, prohibited charitable activities during the campaign, and other electoral violations. In most cases, the investigations target representatives of Strong Armenia. As evidence, the authorities have publicly released wiretapped phone conversations.
The latest case was launched in early June against Alik Aleksanyan, one of the leaders of Karapetyan’s alliance. As part of the investigation, 37 people were questioned, and on Friday law enforcement officers conducted searches at Armat Media, which is linked to the alliance.
The authorities accuse Aleksanyan of money laundering and paying people to participate in political rallies linked to Karapetyan and his alliance in 2025–2026.
“Strong Armenia” denies the allegations of distributing bribes.
Samvel Karapetyan, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, was largely uninvolved in politics until his entry into the political arena in June 2025.
His political involvement began after his arrest over statements in defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church amid worsening relations between the church and Pashinyan’s government. The authorities quickly charged him with calling for a seizure of power, later adding separate charges of money laundering.
Karapetyan is also widely perceived as a candidate backed by Russia, which has been accused of trying to influence the vote in his favor.
Although Karapetyan was nominated by the alliance as its candidate for prime minister, the Armenian Constitution prevents him from holding the office due to his citizenship of another country. Nevertheless, the alliance has promised to amend the Constitution if it wins the election to pave the way for his nomination to the post.