19:50, 5 June 2026

The Central Election Commission has scheduled a meeting to discuss the deregistration of Karapetyan's bloc.

The Republic Party followed Nikol Pashinyan's call and filed a petition with the Central Election Commission demanding the disqualification of Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia bloc from participating in the elections. The petition will be reviewed overnight.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," during the June 4 debates, 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. Pashinyan said his Civil Contract party is not filing such a petition to avoid accusations of "neutralizing competitors."

The June 7 parliamentary elections in Armenia will effectively be a referendum on the future of Nikol Pashinyan's rule 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 Kremlinis betting on Karapetyan, but by law he cannot participate in the elections, Armenian political scientists previously noted.

The "Republic" Party today filed a petition with the Central Election Commission of Armenia demanding that the "Strong Armenia" bloc's participation in the parliamentary elections be suspended. Party leader Aram Sargsyan announced on Public Television during the June 4 debate that he would file such a petition, Armenpress reports.

“We’ve done our part. The ball is now in the state system’s court: will you follow the law and ensure its enforcement?” wrote Republic representative Ani Khachatryan on her Facebook page*.

The Central Election Commission will begin reviewing the Republic party’s petition to deregister the Strong Armenia bloc today at 10:00 PM (11:00 PM Moscow time). The commission’s meeting will be open, CEC press secretary Seda Ghukasyan told Armenia Today.

Strong Armenia representative Marianna Ghahramanyan, in turn, stated that Samvel Karapetyan’s political force is “ready for all scenarios.”

"The stronger we become, the more the fears of this small group grow. We are prepared for all scenarios. All this will be over in two days," Novosti-Armenia quotes her as saying.

The pro-Western Republic Party, which is running in the parliamentary elections under the 11th candidate, has been an ally of the Civil Contract party since 2016. The parties jointly participated in the 2017 parliamentary elections as part of the Yelk (Exit) coalition, and Republic leader Aram Sargsyan became a member of parliament as a result of those elections. Sargsyan served as Armenia's prime minister from 1999 to 2000, and was a presidential candidate in 2003, according to News.am.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/423852