Armenia Finalizes Election Results, Rejects Opposition Calls for Repeat Vote

Photo Credit: Hetq.am|Narek Aleksanyan

Armenia's Central Election Commission (CEC) officially finalized the results of the country's June 7 parliamentary elections on Sunday, confirming the composition of the next National Assembly while rejecting opposition demands for repeat voting and the annulment of the election results.

The session took place Sunday during heightened political tensions, as opposition parties gathered supporters outside the CEC headquarters in Yerevan, calling on citizens to "defend" every vote cast for opposition forces. The Armenian Report was on the ground near the CEC building as political leaders, activists, and supporters assembled to protest the commission's decisions and demand new elections.

During the session, CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan announced the final election results. According to the commission, three political forces secured representation in Armenia's next parliament.

The ruling Civil Contract party received 726,819 votes, or 49.7456 percent of the vote. The Strong Armenia alliance received 340,060 votes, or 23.2710 percent, while the Armenia Alliance secured 144,983 votes, or 9.9231 percent.

The Prosperous Armenia Party narrowly failed to cross the four-percent electoral threshold required for parliamentary representation. According to the final results, the party received 58,287 votes, equal to 3.9893 percent of ballots cast.

The outcome means Prosperous Armenia will not enter parliament.

According to official data, 1,476,769 of Armenia's 2,506,826 eligible voters participated in the election, representing a turnout of 58.9 percent. The CEC reported that 410 voters cast ballots electronically, while 1,300 voted through mobile ballot boxes. Election protocols contained a total of 4,331 recorded inaccuracies and discrepancies.

Before the final certification of the results, opposition forces sought to challenge the outcome through both legal and administrative channels.

The Strong Armenia alliance and Wings of Unity submitted applications to the CEC requesting that the election results be declared invalid and that new elections be held. They argued that electoral violations, abuse of administrative resources, political pressure, and irregularities during the campaign and voting process had affected the outcome.

Photo Credit: Hetq.am|Narek Aleksanyan

The commission reviewed those applications after announcing the final results.

However, Prosperous Armenia representatives were not permitted to present objections during the session. The CEC stated that no formal complaints had been submitted by the party during the legally established complaint period and therefore only the applications filed by Strong Armenia and Wings of Unity would be considered.

Prosperous Armenia had separately pursued legal action through Armenia's Administrative Court.

The party argued that the CEC's decision earlier in the week to invalidate the results of several polling stations directly prevented it from crossing the parliamentary threshold. Prosperous Armenia maintained that the CEC lacked the authority to invalidate polling station results, arguing that such authority belongs to territorial electoral commissions. The party contended that the commission should instead have ordered repeat voting in the affected precincts.

The Administrative Court ultimately rejected the lawsuits shortly before midnight. Nevertheless, Judge Artur Avagyan reportedly recorded that a violation had occurred and that there was a need to call a repeat vote.

A central issue throughout the proceedings involved the invalidation of results from three polling stations: 35/65, 10/51, and 12/13.

Following recounts conducted by territorial electoral commissions, Prosperous Armenia gained 147 votes. However, the invalidation of the three polling stations simultaneously cost the party 222 votes.

Opposition representatives argued that those lost votes ultimately prevented Prosperous Armenia from surpassing the four-percent threshold and obtaining seats in parliament.

Photo Credit: Hetq.am|Narek Aleksanyan

The debate focused on whether the invalidation of those precinct results materially affected the overall election outcome.

After deliberation, the CEC concluded that it did not.

"The Central Election Commission finds that the invalidation of the voting results in polling stations 12/13, 10/51, and 35/65 does not affect the election results," CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan announced during the session.

The commission therefore decided that no repeat vote would be held.

The decision sparked immediate criticism from opposition representatives present at the session.

Prosperous Armenia representative Iveta Tonoyan stated:

"You are obstructing the establishment of democracy in the Republic of Armenia — the establishment of democracy proclaimed by your own authorities."

Hovakimyan then continued reading the commission's decision:

"The CEC decides that during the preparation and voting process of the regular elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia held on June 7, 2026, no violations of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia took place that could have affected the election results."

Opposition representatives argued that the commission's decision conflicted with Article 101 of Armenia's Electoral Code.

The article states that if violations occur that could have affected election results, the CEC must order repeat voting in affected polling stations if such a measure can remedy the consequences. If the violations cannot be corrected through repeat voting, then the parliamentary election must be declared invalid and a new election called.

Opposition representatives argued that the invalidation of the three polling stations contributed to Prosperous Armenia falling below the parliamentary threshold and therefore directly affected the election outcome. They also argued that voters in those polling stations were effectively deprived of the opportunity to participate in a repeat vote.

According to CEC data cited during the proceedings, 4,238 eligible voters were registered in the three affected polling stations.

While the session unfolded inside the commission headquarters, opposition supporters gathered outside demanding that the election results be annulled and new elections held.

Representatives of Strong Armenia, the Armenia Alliance, and Prosperous Armenia participated in the demonstration.

Police maintained a visible presence around the CEC headquarters and surrounding streets throughout the protest.

Opposition leaders repeatedly argued that widespread violations had taken place during both the campaign period and election day.

Authorities, meanwhile, have consistently rejected those accusations and instead accused opposition forces of distributing electoral bribes.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a video statement saying:

"Our main political agenda going forward cannot be anything other than literally stripping the three-headed party of war of its resources. They must be left saying ‘kaka’ to bread, so that they never again even think of distributing electoral bribes. This is the political agenda."

During the CEC session, ruling Civil Contract member Arusyak Julhakyan defended the electoral process.

"During the elections, the exercise of Armenian citizens’ electoral rights was fully ensured. Citizens fully exercised their right to vote. If anything was widespread in this electoral process, the only widespread thing recorded during these elections was the mass distribution of electoral bribes."

Strong Armenia representatives used the hearing to present allegations concerning the conduct of the campaign and election.

Aram Vardevanyan argued that the campaign period had been characterized by unprecedented levels of political hostility.

"We had a pre-election period that contained the most disgusting and unacceptable forms of hate speech, which did not receive any proper assessment from the CEC. However, the Administrative Court recorded it as a phenomenon constituting a violation. And this expression of hate speech was carried out by one political force — Civil Contract. The spread of that hate speech influenced the formation of voters’ will. During this pre-election period, we saw how the abuse of administrative resources became the most widespread tool."

Strong Armenia representative Gohar Meloyan presented examples of what she described as abuse of administrative resources and questioned whether authorities had opened any proceedings related to those allegations.

"Now the recount has become a demand of the day," Meloyan said.

Vardevanyan argued that Armenia's Electoral Code clearly required repeat voting under the circumstances.

"I am convinced that regardless of the requirement of the Code, this CEC will not ensure it and will not conduct a repeat vote, because your starting point is not proper oversight of the electoral process," Vardevanyan said.

He added:

"We demand two actions. First, a repeat vote must be held. This is mandatory. This is a requirement of the law. If, by holding that repeat vote, we are still unable to overcome the substantial violations that affected the election results, then the results of this election must simply be declared invalid."

After the CEC rejected all allegations and announced that three political forces would be represented in parliament while ruling out a repeat vote, those gathered outside repeatedly chanted:

"Nikol, traitor, shame, shame."

A major focus of the protest was the decision not to hold repeat voting in the three polling stations whose results had been invalidated. Opposition figures argued that the decision directly affected Prosperous Armenia's ability to cross the parliamentary threshold and enter the National Assembly.

Speaking both during the CEC session and later outside the commission building, Prosperous Armenia representative Iveta Tonoyan sharply criticized the commission's actions.

“The CEC is used to stealing the people’s vote of confidence like a criminal in the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness. Just as they invalidated the polling station results in the middle of the night, they are now stealing your vote in the same way.”

Throughout the protest, speakers repeatedly insisted that both mandates and votes were being taken away from citizens through the decisions made by election authorities.

Photo Credit: Hetq.am|Narek Aleksanyan

However, after the Central Election Commission formally announced its final decision and after representatives of six opposition political forces read their joint statement rejecting the legitimacy of the election results, the demonstration came to an unexpected conclusion.

Although speakers had earlier told supporters that they had gathered to defend their votes and that “stealing mandates will not work” and “stealing votes will not work,” no immediate action plan was announced.

Instead, opposition leaders thanked supporters for attending, wished them a good night, and informed them that future steps would be announced at a later date.

The crowd gradually dispersed from outside the CEC headquarters without incident.

The scene drew comparisons among some participants to previous opposition demonstrations, including gatherings organized during the Sacred Struggle movement, when supporters traveled from Kirants to Yerevan and demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation. On those occasions as well, demonstrators were ultimately sent home after speeches were delivered and no immediate political action followed.

As darkness fell over central Yerevan, the protest ended peacefully, leaving opposition parties promising future action while the Central Election Commission's certification of the election results remained in force.

Following certification of the results, parliamentary mandates were distributed among the qualifying political forces.

Civil Contract received 64 mandates.

The Strong Armenia alliance received 29 mandates.

The Armenia Alliance received 12 mandates.

Of the seats reserved for national minorities, Civil Contract received three mandates and Strong Armenia received one.

With 3.9893 percent of the vote, Prosperous Armenia fell just short of parliamentary representation and will not hold seats in the next National Assembly.

As Armenia moves toward the formation of its next parliament, the election results remain a source of deep political disagreement. While the Central Election Commission has formally certified the outcome and concluded that no violations affected the final result, opposition parties continue to challenge both the legitimacy of the process and the legal interpretation that prevented repeat voting in the disputed polling stations. With no immediate action announced by opposition leaders, the political and legal debate surrounding the June 7 election is likely to continue in the weeks ahead.

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