Karapetyan supporter suspected of attempting to re-vote

Security forces detained a supporter of the Strong Armenia party, a suspect in a criminal case involving an attempt to vote a second time. Residents of the republic are receiving reports of mining at polling stations, but police have dismissed these as false.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," parliamentary elections are taking place in Armenia today. At 8:00 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. Moscow time), 2,005 polling stations opened for voters. Early in the morning, before the polling stations opened, security forces searched the headquarters of the Armenia bloc in Gyumri and detained candidate Hasmik Sahradyan. In Noyemberyan, NSS and Anti-Corruption Committee officers removed four supporters of the Armenia bloc from a polling station without explanation. In Gyumri, according to parliamentary candidate Karen Simonyan, more than 10 supporters of the "Armenia" party were detained early this morning.

According to information received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, today at 8:19 a.m. local time (7:19 a.m. Moscow time) at polling station #20/56, a proxy of the "Strong Armenia" party attempted to vote again, and his ballot was printed with the inscription "attempt to vote again," the Investigative Committee of Armenia reports.

The investigation did not name the suspect, referring to him by the initials A.S. "The precinct election commission confiscated the ballot for presentation to the Central Election Commission, after which A.S. was asked to leave the premises and handed over to a police officer," the department's press service reported.

A criminal case has been opened, and the suspect has been detained, News.am reports.

Police dismiss bomb threats at polling stations as false

Residents of Armenia have received calls and messages from foreign phone numbers and email addresses informing them that bombs had been planted at some polling stations, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs police reported today. "It has been established that these reports are not true," Novosti-Armenia quotes the department as saying.

Police did not rule out that the purpose of the reports was to disrupt the voting process, "spread anxiety and mistrust in society, and create additional burdens on the work of government agencies."

"We call on citizens not to succumb to misinformation, not to spread unverified information, and to immediately inform law enforcement agencies upon receiving such reports," the department stated.

As a reminder, the most pro-Russian participants in the elections are the "Strong Armenia" bloc of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, the "Armenia" bloc of former president Robert Kocharyan, and the "Prosperous Armenia" party of oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan. According to analysts, the parties of Samvel Karapetyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Robert Kocharyan will be key competitors in the elections.

The elections will effectively become a referendum on the future of the current government and Armenia's foreign policy, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".