The removal of a propaganda poster in Yerevan resulted in an attack on a prefectural employee.
An employee of the Shengavit district prefecture of Yerevan was attacked while removing a Prosperous Armenia party poster that had been illegally displayed. The victim was hospitalized, and the attacker was detained.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the Central Election Commission of Armenia registered all 19 political forces that applied to participate in the parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, Tigran Urikhanyan, the number one candidate on the Alliance Party list, and blogger Vardan Ghukasyan, who held the top spot on the Democracy, Law, and Discipline Party list, were denied registration due to their lack of citizenship and proof of residency in the country for the past four years.
Samvel Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia," along with Robert Kocharyan's "Armenia" bloc and Gagik Tsarukyan's "Prosperous Armenia" party, is one of the most pro-Russian parties in the Armenian parliamentary elections. The Kremlin is backing Karapetyan, but he is legally ineligible to participate, Armenian political scientists previously noted. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".
Artem Karapetyan, the mayor's press secretary, reported an incident related to the election campaign in Yerevan on May 7. According to him, employees of the Shengavit district prefecture were attacked.
Officials arrived at the site of a campaign poster for the opposition Prosperous Armenia party. They found that the poster violated legal restrictions – its area exceeded 5 square meters, Novosti-Armenia reports.
Officials began removing the poster, but party supporters clashed with them. As a result, one of the prefecture's employees "received a blow to the head and was hospitalized with an injury," Karapetyan wrote on his Facebook page*.
Police, in turn, reported that one attacker had been detained. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, several people participated in the attack on the district administration employees.
"A citizen is suspected of beating specialists from the Trade and Advertising Department of the Shengavit Administrative District of the Yerevan Municipality today near the Hayrenik Cinema, as well as of hooliganism. Measures are being taken to identify the other individuals involved in the hooliganism," the news agency quotes the department's statement.
Prosperous Armenia Party candidate Gevorg Stepanyan, commenting on the incident, stated that the poster was installed with the consent of the owner of the Hayrenik Cinema. Stepanyan claims that administration employees "torn down the poster, insulted the building owner, and behaved 'impudently,'" Armenia Today reports.
The official campaigning period for Armenia's parliamentary elections begins on May 8, but in fact, campaign banners and portraits of political leaders appeared on city and village streets more than a month before that date. The Central Election Commission of Armenia clarified that placing outdoor advertising for political parties outside the official campaigning period is not a violation.