Karapetyan hits back at Pashinyan as more affiliates arrested on vote-buying charges
Following the launch of a series of criminal cases against affiliates of Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan over alleged electoral bribery, Karapetyan himself has accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of similar practices.
Karapetyan made his allegations on Tuesday, as more arrests on vote-buying charges were announced, this time in the Baghramyan community of the Armavir region. According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, the case includes the territorial representative of Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party, with wiretapped recordings cited as evidence.
Authorities claim that the same unnamed individual also used material incentives to ensure attendance at a rally for Karapetyan’s alliance in Yerevan.
Further arrests followed a day later, accompanied by additional wiretaps.
The case involves the head of the office of Karapetyan’s In Our Way organisation, whose name was not disclosed and who was accused of vote-buying and, ‘under the guise of charity, provided money free of charge to a Yerevan resident […] for a surgical operation’. The alleged payment occurred during a period when charity by candidates is banned.
The cases are the latest in a series of similar investigations against Karapetyan’s affiliates. Polls have indicated that Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia Alliance is expected to be the main challenger to the ruling Civil Contract party in the 7 June parliamentary elections.
As more arrests on vote-buying charges continue to pile up, Karapetyan appears to be trying to flip the situation on its head, accusing Pashinyan’s government of similar misconduct.
In a video published on his social media on Tuesday, he claimed that Pashinyan’s supporters are people ‘who have lost their hope; their only hope has become the pre-election bribes that this government gave to our people a month ago’.
‘But that will not help Pashinyan and his government’, Karapetyan claimed, without clarifying his allegations.
Earlier, Karapetyan rejected allegations of vote-buying, stating that ‘as the leading force, [we] have no need to give bribes’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
His remarks appear to echo criticism of recent government spending measures — including pension and salary increases, along with an increase in housing support programmes for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian refugees — which critics say is tied to winning their support ahead of the elections.
No criminal cases have been launched against Pashinyan or members of his Civil Contract party.
However, the Anti-Corruption Committee is examining an incident involving Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, a Civil Contract member, who gifted a camera to a young woman on 8 May. Avinyan claimed the gift was unrelated to the election, explaining that funds had previously been allocated to an orphanage to purchase it, but the item had not been bought.
In a separate case, authorities declined to open proceedings against Tavros Sapeyan, also a Civil Contract member and the head of the Talin community, despite a complaint alleging that over ֏11.5 million ($30,000) in aid had been distributed from the local budget during the restricted period.
The Anti-Corruption Committee stated that Sapeyan ‘carried out official functions arising from his position, aimed at solving community issues’.
Earlier, on the first day of the campaign on 8 May, Pashinyan addressed the criminal cases of vote-buying, stating that whoever thinks they could ‘buy a citizen of Armenia — their nose and face will be smashed against the wall of the Armenian citizen’.
