Pashinyan calls for measures to prevent vote-buying forces from gaining political influence
4 minute read
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that guarantees must be created to ensure that political forces involved in vote-buying do not have the opportunity to gain political influence in Armenia.
Speaking in parliament during debates on the government’s 2025 budget execution report, Pashinyan said that Armenia has managed twice — in 2021 and 2026 — under difficult circumstances, to ensure citizens’ free expression of their will.
“We have managed twice, under extremely difficult conditions, to ensure the expression of the will of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. Let me remind you what kind of environment we held the parliamentary elections in 2021, and as a result of those elections, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia had the opportunity to freely express their will,” the Prime Minister said.
Citizens also had the opportunity to freely express their will during the 2026 parliamentary elections, but new challenges emerged during the electoral process, he said.
The Prime Minister said that responding to these challenges and creating proper mechanisms should become an important part of the upcoming political agenda.
“We must already create guarantees today so that political forces distributing election bribes and operating according to that logic have no chance of having any political influence in the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan said.
Referring to the opposition that will be formed in the next parliament, the Prime Minister stated that, in his assessment, it was formed as a result of illegal activities.
“Essentially, the parliamentary opposition being formed in the 9th convocation of the National Assembly is a political entity that has been formed entirely as a result of illegal activities,” Pashinyan said.
According to the Prime Minister, it is the legitimate right of the Republic of Armenia to deprive relevant circles of the opportunity to continue political activities.
“It is the legitimate right of the Republic of Armenia to prevent these processes and these circles from continuing political activities, and for this purpose Armenia must take measures,” the Prime Minister said.
Pashinyan emphasized that this commitment was also assumed and reaffirmed during the pre-election campaign for the 2026 parliamentary elections.
The Prime Minister also noted that citizens have raised the question of why these issues have not yet been resolved. According to Pashinyan, resolving such issues was significantly more difficult in the absence of peace.
Three political forces entered parliament as a result of the June 7 elections: the Civil Contract party, which will receive 64 seats; the Strong Armenia alliance, which will receive 29 seats; and the Armenia alliance, which will receive 12 seats.
Throughout the campaign period, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee repeatedly reported the discovery of cases involving alleged vote-buying by representatives of the Strong Armenia alliance, the Armenia alliance, and the Prosperous Armenia party, also presenting audio recordings as evidence. The Prosperous Armenia party received less than 4% of the vote and failed to enter parliament.