Pashinyan was unlucky: Samvel Karapetyan's bloc remains in the election race

The Central Election Commission of Armenia rejected the demand of the leader of the pro-Western "Republic" party Aram Sargsyan to cancel the registration of the "Strong Armenia" bloc Samvel Karapetyan. This was announced by CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan.

The issue was considered at a meeting of the commission, which began on June 5 at 22.00 (21.00 Moscow time).

"Aram Sargsyan's appeal demanding to cancel the registration of the Strong Armenia bloc To reject Samvel Karapetyan, the decision comes into force from the moment of publication at the meeting. The decision can be appealed to the Administrative Court within three days," the CEC said in a statement.

The appeal was rejected unanimously — by all seven members of the commission, Sputnik Armenia notes. CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan stated that the arguments and allegations presented do not contain sufficient grounds and are of an assumed nature. According to the commission, there is no evidence confirming the stated requirements.

The pro-Western party "Republic" demanded to cancel the registration of the bloc, pointing out alleged violations during the election campaign. The basis for the appeal was the materials of the observation organizations on alleged cases of voter bribery. In addition, the applicants claim that they have studied the alleged channels of external influence and came to the conclusion that the scale of violations could significantly affect the voting results. According to their estimates, the amount of financial resources used by the Strong Armenia bloc during the campaign is several times higher than the statutory limits for election campaigning.

The appeal followed a televised debate on Armenian Public Television held the day before, when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recommended Aram Sargsyan to officially address the CEC on this issue.

Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia" along with "Prosperous Armenia" are Pashinyan's main rivals in the upcoming June 7 parliamentary elections.

According to Western sociologists, now the opposition enjoys the support of 49% of the country's population, Pashinyan's bloc is about 37%, and only 11% personally approve of his actions.