Five arrested in Armenia over alleged vote-buying scheme linked to Karapetyan’s party
Five people have been arrested in Armenia in connection with alleged election-related bribery linked to Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party. The party denied the accusations.
The Anti-Corruption Committee said on Monday that it had obtained ‘factual data’ indicating a group of people planned to distribute electoral bribes to ‘ensure’ participation in the parliamentary elections on 7 June and to secure votes ‘in favour of a party indicated by them’.
According to the committee, the scheme began in 2025, when an office of the Our Way NGO was opened in the town of Metsamor in Armavir Province. The organisers then ‘nominally registered’ an unspecified number of local residents in the organisation, ‘assigning them the task of recruiting individuals who would vote in favour of the “Strong Armenia” party in the elections’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
In an effort to conceal the promised bribes, the money was allegedly ‘formulated as a salary’ and was intended to be provided ‘in stages’.
‘Notably, among the main preconditions for being hired by the NGO were having a large family and a wide circle of acquaintances, as well as being an eligible voter’, the statement claimed.
However, the statement did not specify the number of people allegedly involved or the total amount of money distributed.
The committee also accused individuals linked to the party of providing money to residents of Armavir province ‘under the guise of charity’ to cover medical service costs between February and March 2026. According to the statement, this took place ‘despite the legislative ban on conducting charitable activities during this period’ by parties and their affiliates in the pre-election period.
The committee added that ‘dozens of searches have been conducted’, five people have been arrested, and a criminal case has been initiated ‘under the relevant articles’.
It also vowed to monitor organisations linked to parties running in the elections to identify people who may be involved in planning or carrying out electoral crimes, including through hidden methods.
The Strong Armenia party has denied the accusations, describing what appeared to be secretly recorded phone calls presented as evidence as a made-up scenario created by law enforcement bodies ‘which have become a tool in the hands of the authorities’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Following Karapetyan’s arrest in June, the Our Way initiative was established, and the group later registered the Strong Armenia political party.
The initiative’s name was derived from comments Karapetyan made in support of the Armenian Apostolic Church amid the government–Church confrontation that escalated in May 2025.
‘If the politicians fail, then we will participate in our own way in all of this’, Karapetyan said to News.am back in June 2025.
Hours later, he was detained after a raid on his mansion in Yerevan and charged with calling for a coup.
Earlier in March, Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) detected signs of possible foreign interference ahead of elections. The FIS said Armenians living abroad have reportedly been pressured to back certain political parties, without specifying the country behind the alleged interference.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
