Elections in Gyumri are taking place amid mass arrests of opposition members.

About 20 supporters of the "Strong Armenia" and "Armenia" blocs were detained today in Gyumri. Some of those detained are believed to be involved in election bribery. Party representatives have deemed the security forces' actions an attempt to deprive the opposition of support.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," today, before the opening of polling stations, security forces conducted searches at the "Armenia" bloc headquarters in Gyumri and detained candidate Hasmik Sagradyan. Searches were also conducted at the Strong Armenia headquarters.

Representatives of "Strong Armenia" detained

This afternoon, it became known that security forces removed supporters of the "Strong Armenia" party from a private home directly across from polling station #32/38. Lawyer Artur Hakobyan, whom the detainees approached, was unable to enter the house where the search was taking place.

"Under the pretext of protecting the scene, police officers entered a private home, which is protected by the right to the inviolability of the home. "We insisted that the police officers should have guarded the house as a crime scene, not from inside the inviolable home, but from a public place. We were not allowed to enter. We repeatedly knocked on the door, loudly declaring that we were lawyers, and demanded that they open it so we could be present during the investigation, but they did not," the lawyer told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The actions of local security forces were supervised by investigators who had arrived from Yerevan. You don't see something like this every day.

Hakobyan added that they were not given any explanation for the search, but according to preliminary information, three citizens have already been detained on suspicion of paying election bribes.

"Three citizens were detained and taken to the police station. Moreover, the actions of local security forces were supervised by investigators who arrived from Yerevan. “You don’t see something like this every day,” he noted, adding that there is information about 10 detainees.

Supporters of the Armenia bloc in Gyumri also faced detentions

The same number of Gyumri supporters of the Armenia bloc were detained, including the head of the local headquarters Babaken Saroyan, the bloc’s candidate for parliament Karen Simonyan told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

“Starting at 5:00 a.m., law enforcement officers entered the apartments of supporters and volunteers of the Armenia bloc, as well as our headquarters, and detained citizens under unclear pretexts. The goal of these actions is to break the Armenia bloc team,” he said, adding that this would not succeed.

He is not aware of the reasons for the searches.

At the same time, the situation at polling station No. 32/38 was calm, without queues or incidents.

Gyumri human rights activist Karapet Poghosyan was also detained, his Angin Malkhasn's wife.

"The Anti-Corruption Committee conducted searches in the morning, then he was detained and taken away," she said.

The situation in Gyumri is calm, the elections are underway, says David Arushanyan, governor of the Shirak region.

"Everything is calm, the elections are underway, there is activity on the part of citizens, but there is no tense situation. Law enforcement agencies are doing their job. I have already voted, I made my choice for Armenia, where there will be peace and prosperity. We will definitely win," a member of Pashinyan's team told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Meanwhile, the Investigative Committee of Armenia reported today that, from April 2026 to 3:00 PM on June 7, 117 criminal cases related to electoral crimes were initiated.

"Within these cases, public criminal prosecutions were initiated against 86 individuals, and nine criminal cases against 16 defendants have already been sent to court with indictments. During the preliminary investigations, approximately 1,200 people were questioned and approximately 280 searches were conducted," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

As a reminder, amid the tense election campaign in Armenia, mass detentions of opposition supporters were repeatedly reported. Security officials confirmed the initiation of dozens of criminal cases. On June 6, the number of people detained in Armenia in cases of election bribery approached 200. Today, security forces conducted searches at the headquarters of the Armenia bloc in Gyumri and detained candidate Hasmik Sahradyan. Searches were also conducted at the headquarters of the Strong Armenia party. Prosperous Armenia announced that 50 of its supporters were detained today.

Oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia Party, former President Robert Kocharyan's Armenia bloc, and businessman Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia bloc are the most pro-Russian participants in the Armenian parliamentary elections.

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