Kocharyan: Violations recorded during Armenian parliamentary  elections sufficient to deem them illegitimate

ArmInfo.  The violations recorded during the regular parliamentary elections in Armenia are sufficient to declare them illegitimate, as stated by Armenia's  second president, leader of the "Armenia" bloc, Robert Kocharyan,  speaking to journalists.

According to the second president, it is essential to understand that  electoral processes are not limited to election day itself but span  the entire cycle, including the campaign period. "Unprecedented  violations were recorded throughout these processes. Without a doubt,  any of these violations could have influenced the election results,"  Kocharyan stated confidently.

He subdivided the violations into several categories. The first  category, according to the former president, is the external support  provided to the authorities during the electoral process. According  to Kocharyan, this is the first time such an occurrence has taken  place in Armenia. "There were enough statements during this period to  assert that there was external influence on the electoral processes,  which could have affected the election results," the bloc leader  believes.

The second category, Kocharyan continued, involves unprecedented  state budget expenditures, which he argued could easily be described  as electoral bribery. "These include pension increases that were not  slated in the approved state budget for this year. One can also point  to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's sudden resolution of the driver's  license reinstatement issue for citizens who had been stripped of  their licenses under the demerit point system. These are all examples  of the abuse of administrative resources. According to various  estimates, we are talking about the deployment of $1 billion that had  not been budgeted for," Kocharyan noted.

Finally, as the second president of Armenia noted, there is pressure  exerted on the opposition, including through arrests. According to  Kocharyan, even if one were to combine the total number of arrests  from all previous electoral cycles in Armenia, they would not exceed  the figures recorded during the 2026 elections.  "The objective is  clear—to disrupt the operations of opposition campaign headquarters.  This factor alone was enough to label these elections illegitimate.  Now imagine all four tools being utilized simultaneously.  All of  this leads to a single conclusion: these parliamentary elections in  Armenia cannot be considered legitimate," the leader of the "Armenia"  bloc declared.

Kocharyan recalled that they intend to appeal to the Constitutional  Court in this regard. However, he clarified that they have no  expectations from the court itself. As the second president of  Armenia clarified, it is important that the that the hearings will be  open to the public, meaning they can use this platform to once again  demonstrate to the citizens of Armenia how these elections actually  unfolded. Kocharyan also commented on their stance regarding whether  to accept or reject their parliamentary mandates. He noted that they  do not yet have a final decision, as discussions with other  opposition forces must first take place.  Nevertheless, the political  struggle must be sustained, utilizing the full spectrum of available  mechanisms.  Parliamentary mandates represent one such instrument.  However, a final determination remains pending," Kocharyan concluded.