🇦🇲 Pashinyan's Dirty Trick Backfires: Armenia's CEC Refuses to Ban Opposition Bloc

Two days before Armenia's parliamentary elections, the leading opposition bloc "Strong Armenia" faced an attempt to bar it from participating. Armenia's Central Electoral Commission rejected the move.

The Republic Party filed a complaint with the CEC on Friday demanding the invalidation of Strong Armenia's electoral registration.

The CEC issued its ruling overnight on June 5–6.

CEC Chairman Hovakimyan announced that the Commission rejected Republic's complaint, finding no grounds for annulling the bloc's registration.

"Having assessed the circumstances presented, the CEC states that the applicant's claims are based on assumptions and references to assumptions by Armenia's law enforcement bodies, and the reference to Article 14 of the Electoral Code is unsubstantiated," Hovakimyan stated, confirming the rejection.

Strong Armenia — led by businessman Samvel Karapetyan — will therefore compete in the elections.

Republic Party is considered a pro-Western political force. Its complaint came after Prime Minister Pashinyan called on pro-Western parties to petition the CEC to remove parties he labels as pro-Russian — including Strong Armenia — from the ballot.

@DDGeopolitics