Pro-Russian opposition in Armenia demands annulment of elections it lost. Meanwhile, the state is investigating it for election corruption

Five days after the pro-Russian opposition in Armenia lost the parliamentary elections by more than double, it is demanding they be annulled. The Strong Armenia bloc of billionaire Samvel Karapetyan filed a motion with the Central Election Commission on Friday to annul the result over alleged "electoral irregularities," and former president Robert Kocharyan's alliance announced a complaint to the Constitutional Court. But the dispute has another side: while the losers speak of fraud, the state anti-corruption body says the majority of its election-corruption criminal proceedings target the opposition itself — 77 of 115 cases fall on Karapetyan's bloc. Al Jazeera ↗

Fight over every vote

Strong Armenia spokesman Aram Vardevanyan announced that the party is demanding a recount of votes cast for the ruling Civil Contract party, and that if the commission refuses, it will turn to the Constitutional Court. The bloc finished second with 23.2 percent. Caucasian Knot ↗

Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance, which won 9.9 percent, is preparing its own "package of facts" for the Constitutional Court. The third opposition entity, Prosperous Armenia, together with Wings of Unity, secured a recount in 555 precincts — and it turned out the opposite of what it had hoped: while it gained 140 votes, the commission on June 11 annulled results in two precincts due to a concentration of soldiers at the polling stations after closing, and the party instead lost 213 votes. Caucasian Knot ↗

Pashinyan's Civil Contract won 49.8 percent and a comfortable majority to form a government on its own; the commission is set to publish final results on Sunday. We covered a detailed breakdown of the result and Moscow's first reaction last week.

Also read: Pashinyan crushed the pro-Russian opposition, Armenia confirmed its turn to the West, and Moscow threatens

The other side of the coin: 115 criminal proceedings

While the opposition disputes the count, Armenia's anti-corruption body has launched its own offensive. Since February 7, it has opened 115 criminal proceedings for election corruption, according to its own data; 77 of them (67 percent) concern Strong Armenia, 24 Prosperous Armenia, and 11 the Armenia Alliance, the body says. Armenpress ↗

In 61 proceedings, the body has charged 242 people, of whom 52 ended up in custody and 48 under house arrest; investigators say vote bribes ranged from 70,000 to 200,000 drams. The body signaled it would continue making arrests even after the election. Armenpress ↗

Karapetyan himself is a symbol of this tension. The Russian-Armenian billionaire, once the wealthiest ethnic Armenian, ran his campaign from house arrest — his nephew Narek formally led the party list. He is being prosecuted for public calls to usurp power, the violent overthrow of the constitutional order, and money laundering; the trial began on April 15 at the Anti-Corruption Court. He rejects the charges as political revenge. Public Radio of Armenia ↗ OC Media ↗

Why Moscow is watching

Challenging the election fits perfectly into the Kremlin's narrative of "Western interference." Moscow condemned the result — and even before the vote it had already applied pressure through trade restrictions on some Armenian goods and threats of a "Ukrainian scenario," which we discussed in a separate article. Al Jazeera ↗

Also read: Putin compared Armenia to Ukraine, demands a referendum on the EU

Russia retains its 102nd military base in Armenia, in the city of Gyumri — the agreement covering it runs until 2044 and remains both a lever and a symbol of presence for Moscow. Pashinyan has not signaled its withdrawal, but insists that regardless of Russian law, the base must operate under Armenian jurisdiction. Armenpress ↗

What hotinfo is watching

• How the Constitutional Court rules on the opposition's complaints and what the final results will be after Sunday's publication.
• Whether Yerevan submits a formal application for EU membership — Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has not yet submitted one, but the government has signaled a more intensive course toward Brussels for 2026. ARKA ↗ OC Media ↗
• The fate of Russia's 102nd base in Gyumri and other Russian levers over Yerevan.
• The verdict in Karapetyan's trial and whether post-election arrests will continue.