16:52, 17 June 2026

Armenia's Central Election Commission has authorized the arrest of a candidate from Karapetyan's bloc.

Armenia's Anti-Corruption Committee accuses David Ghazinyan of distributing bribes to voters before the parliamentary elections. The defense believes the charges are purely politically motivated.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, the Strong Armenia bloc is preparing a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the election results. "We will use all legitimate legal instruments to prove the systemic nature of the falsifications, administrative pressure, and political persecution by the regime," said Aram Vardevanyan, a representative of the Strong Armenia bloc.

The Civil Contract Party received 61 seats in parliament, the Strong Armenia bloc 28, and the Armenia bloc 12, the Central Election Commission of Armenia announced. Taking into account the mandates of national minorities, the Civil Contract party has 64 mandates, while Karapetyan's bloc has 29. Six opposition parties declared the elections illegitimate and blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for further escalation of the situation.

The Central Election Commission of Armenia has granted the Anti-Corruption Committee's petition to open a criminal case and imprison David Ghazinyan, a candidate for parliament from Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia opposition bloc. This was announced by lawyer Aram Vardevanyan at a briefing in front of the CEC building, Armenpress reports.

"The accusation is absolutely absurd; Ghazinyan is accused of preparing to distribute bribes. It is clear that the case is entirely politically motivated. "In all likelihood, he will soon be detained, then arrested," News.am quotes Vardevanyan as saying.

Earlier, Vardevanyan said that the basis for filing the petition was a recording of a telephone conversation between third parties, which said that his client, Ghazinyan, allegedly transferred 1.4 million drams (about 3.8 thousand dollars) to another person, while Ghazinyan himself was not involved in the conversation.

It should be noted that Ghazinyan previously held the position of CEO of the Electric Networks of Armenia, which belongs to Karapetyan.

The Prosperous Armenia Party of oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, the Armenia bloc of former President Robert Kocharyan, and the Strong Armenia bloc Analysts previously indicated that businessman Samvel Karapetyan was the most pro-Russian candidate in the Armenian parliamentary elections.

The parliamentary elections effectively became a referendum on the future of the current government and Armenia's foreign policy. The "Caucasian Knot" published a report titled "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/424183