The authorities’ accusations that the opposition party “Strong Armenia” bribed voters have completely failed — Marianna Kagramanyan

ArmInfo.  The authorities’ accusations that the opposition party “Strong Armenia” bribed voters and that it disseminated various videos have completely failed.

This was stated by Marianna Kagramanyan, an MP from the “Strong Armenia” faction, at a briefing in the RA National Assembly on September 22.

According to her, these attempts also failed in the Constitutional Court, since, if one is speaking about the fictitious and contrived processes allegedly carried out by the ruling “Civil Contract” party before, during and after the elections, then the Constitutional Court, whose composition is close to the authorities, would have expressed an appropriate position. Kagramanyan called for attention to be paid to the elections in local communities, where there are numerous, and well-founded, reports that community heads from the ruling party and people close to them used various methods of “incentivizing” residents of these communities, an example of which may be the story involving the native village of RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, Lori Berd.

As for the elections to local self-government bodies, Marianna Kagramanyan noted that the “Strong Armenia” party had already nominated its candidate in Stepanavan.  A difficult struggle is expected in this region. “Nevertheless, we are going into the elections with the aim of winning in this region. There will also be processes in other regions, but one should not forget the fact that a number of communities are headed by colleagues from the opposition forces,” the MP said.

In turn, Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the “Strong Armenia” faction, noted that representatives of the authorities would face serious problems during the upcoming elections to local self-government bodies.

As for the party’s participation in other electoral districts, meetings of the regional structures of the political force must be held, at which a decision will be made on whether to participate and in what format.

It should be noted that elections to local self-government bodies in Armenia will be held in autumn 2026, with the main voting day scheduled for October 25. The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia has set several voting days, the key one of which will take place on October 25 (elections are also scheduled for September 27). On October 25, voting will cover 21 communities in various regions of the country, including Artashat, Armavir, Araks, Gavar, Martuni, Vardenis, Hrazdan, Tsaghkadzor, Garni, Artik, Akhuryan, Goris, Meghri, Yeghegnadzor, Vayk, Jermuk, Ijevan, Dilijan, Stepanavan, Fioletovo and Shamiram. In most large communities, elections will be held under the proportional system, while in some small villages (for example, Fioletovo and Shamiram), they will be held under the majoritarian system.