The Electoral Commission refused to remove Strong Armenia from the elections.
The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia rejected the appeal of the Republic Party, which demanded the cancellation of the registration of Samvel Karapetyan's political force in the parliamentary elections.
As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on July 5, the Republic Party submitted a statement to the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia demanding the suspension of the Strong Armenia bloc's participation in the parliamentary elections. Marianna Kagramanyan, a representative of Strong Armenia, in turn, stated that Samvel Karapetyan's political force is "ready for all scenarios."
During the June 4 debate, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on other election participants to appeal to the Central Election Commission to deregister Strong Armenia, Alliance Armenia, and Prosperous Armenia. According to Pashinyan, his Civil Contract party is not filing such an appeal to avoid accusations of "neutralizing competitors."
Late in the evening, the Central Election Commission of Armenia reviewed petitions regarding the participation of Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia party in the June 7 elections. Supporters of this party began gathering outside the CEC building by the start of the session, News.am reports.
The commission was reviewing the Republic party's application to invalidate the registration of Strong Armenia's electoral list. After discussing the issue, CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan took a 30-minute break before announcing his decision. Following the break, it was announced that the Election Commission had rejected Respublika's appeal, Armenia Today reports.
The commission also unanimously rejected a petition seeking information about Strong Armenia regarding criminal cases of voter bribery filed by lawyer Tigran Yegoryan, also a representative of the Respublika party.
The June 7 parliamentary elections in Armenia will effectively be a referendum on the future of Nikol Pashinyan's government and the country's foreign policy. At stake is the current team's retention of power or its transfer to the opposition, which promises to reconsider key decisions of recent years, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".
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 Armenian political scientists previously noted that he is legally ineligible to participate in the elections.