Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 7 June 2026 to elect members of the 9th convocation of the National Assembly. According to exit polls, incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party Civil Contract won with 56.7% of the vote, followed by the pro-Russian Strong Armenia of Samvel Karapetyan with 17.5%.
According to Reuters, citing anonymous Western intelligence officials and documents, the election was subject to heavy Russian covert efforts to undermine Pashinyan and support pro-Russian candidates, including disinformation campaigns. The Armenian government was criticized by the International Observatory for Democracy in Armenia organization for actions viewed as causing democratic backsliding and political persecution of the opposition.
Background
Since the previous election and with the Artsakh War, after the violent expulsion of the entire ethnic Armenian population from their homeland in Artsakh, the government had to make moves towards Azerbaijan on potential recognition of the loss of Artsakh. Following protests, the government criticized such actions. Parliamentary Speaker Simonyan also criticized protesters and praised Azerbaijan. The loss of Artsakh had also severely damaged the image of Russia amongst Armenians, as Russian peacekeepers were present in the region, yet did nothing to stop the Azeri takeover. Since the 2021 elections, Pashinyan's government has claimed that it has thwarted four separate coup attempts; the first in September 2023 by the Khachakirner militia, the second in November 2023 by a group with ties to the National Democratic Alliance, a direct Russian-backed coup in 2024 by the Arbat Battalion and Sev Hovaz, and mostly recently in 2025 by leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Various leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church were arrested on charges of participation in the alleged 2025 attempted coup, with some sentenced to jail. Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was arrested in October 2025 and handed a two-year sentence in November. In February 2026, he was moved to house arrest. Armenian-Cypriot-Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan was also arrested in 2025 and was placed under house arrest, which was extended in April 2026 by three months (running through the election). The Electric Networks of Armenia, part of his Tashir Group, were nationalized.
Electoral system
The members of the unicameral National Assembly are elected by party-list proportional representation. The number of seats is at least 101, and rises when allocation of additional seats is required. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method with an election threshold of 4% for parties and 8% for two- and three-party alliances.Armenia is actively stepping into the electoral marathon a year ahead of the elections Cacasus Watch However, a minimum of three political groups will enter parliament, regardless of the performance of the third-best performing party or alliance.
Candidates may participate in the elections only by being included in the nationwide list of a political party or an alliance of parties. For the elections, Armenia is divided into 13 electoral districts. A candidate for deputy must be at least 25 years old, have held only Armenian citizenship during the previous four years, have permanently resided in Armenia, possess voting rights, and be proficient in the Armenian language. According to the Constitution of Armenia, the National Assembly is elected for a five-year term and must consist of at least 101 deputies. The number of seats may be increased when the allocation of additional mandates is required.
Seats are allocated using the Hare quota and largest remainder method, proportionally among all political forces that surpass the electoral threshold (4% for parties and 8–10% for alliances of parties). If a party receives a majority of votes but wins less than 52% of the mandates, it will be allocated additional mandates to ensure 52% of the total seats. If one party wins more than two-thirds of the mandates, additional mandates will be granted to opposition parties that passed the threshold, reducing the winning party's share to two-thirds. If a government is not formed within six days after the publication of the preliminary results, a second round must be held on the 28th day between the two parties receiving the most votes. The party winning the second round will receive the additional mandates necessary to secure a 54% majority, while preserving all mandates allocated in the first round. Seats are allocated to parties using their national share of the vote. Four seats are reserved for national minorities (Assyrians, Kurds, Russians and Yazidis), with parties having separate lists for the four groups.Parliamentary elections 2 April 2017: OSCE/ODIHR needs assessment mission report OSCE A gender quota requires any top section of a party list to include at least 33% candidates of each gender.
Parties and alliances
The deadline to register lists was 23 April 2026 at 18:00.
Nineteen political forces, well-known in political circles and newly emerged, have submitted applications to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC). The ruling Civil Contract Party, the largest opposition force in parliament, the Armenia Alliance, and Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia have submitted candidacy applications for the elections. The third force in parliament, the Republican Party, has decided not to participate in the elections. Those who have indicated running are: Name of party or allianceAllied partiesFirst candidate in listSeats in National AssemblyCivil ContractNikol Pashinyan69Prosperous ArmeniaGagik Tsarukyan1Meritocratic Party of ArmeniaGurgen Simonyan0"Against all" Democratic partySpartak Kyureghyan0Strong Armenia allianceNarek Karapetyan0Democratic Consolidation Party0Wings of UnityArman Tatoyan0Bright ArmeniaEdmon Marukyan0National Democratic AllianceGevorg Karapetyan0Armenia AllianceRobert Kocharyan27Christian Democratic Party0Armenian National CongressLevon Zourabyan0New PowerHayk Marutyan0Hanrapetutyun PartyAram Sargsyan00Reformist PartyVagharshak Harutyunyan0Democracy Law Discipline Party (DOK)0Artak Sargsyan0For The Republic PartyArman Babajanyan0
Campaign Former President Serzh Sargsyan said that the Republican Party would not partake in the election: "Our voters' voices will not be lost but will join those of other opposition voters." Samvel Karapetyan renounced his Cypriot and Russian passports to run for office. Armenian National Congress said it would have its own list. Gagik Tsarukyan was chosen to lead Prosperous Armenia.
Hayastan faction MP and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun)'s Ishkhan Saghatelyan called for the opposition groups to have a joint rally in response to escalating repression. Arman Tatoyan, head of Wings of Unity and Avetik Chalabyan, coordinator of the "HayaQve" National Civil Association, signed a memorandum of cooperation to unify their agenda. Edmon Marukyan's Bright Armenia said they would be running in the election.
Thousands attended the Strong Armenia campaign in Yerevan on April 11.
Civil Contract officially named Pashinyan as its prime ministerial candidate. Pashinyan commented on the opposition in saying that Robert Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance, Karapetyan's Strong Armenia and Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia should not enter parliament to end the so-called "formers vs. currents" confrontation.
Arrests The government arrested 12 detainees, who faced restrictions, in an alleged corruption probe in 2026. Members of the Strong Armenia party Gohar Ghumashyan and Verzhine Stepanyan, were placed under administrative supervision. They were accused of vote buying following the release of a transcript of a telephone conversation with a citizen. The former's lawyer said she was not related to the charges against her. Narek Karapetyan condemned the arrests in saying: "Those who imprison women and fabricate cases against individuals will be replaced in Armenia by a leader who encourages and supports large families."
An 18-year-old was also arrested for attempting to hit Pashinyan during a Holy Mass in Yerevan's Saint Anna Church. It was reported that he had health problems. He was sent to Nairi hospital. In another confrontation, Pashinyan screamed at a Artsakh War veteran: "Why weren't you killed off?" The man was arrested by police and went on a hunger strike.
The Armenian legislature then passed a bill to ban personal names in electoral blocs. Hayk Mamijanyan of the Pativ Unem faction, called the actions "inherently illegal", as did Gegham Manukyan of the Hayastan faction in regards to the Electoral Code prior to the election The Armenian Church condemned the government's plan as "unlawful" and a threat to national unity.
The International Observatory for Democracy in Armenia organization has criticized what it views as democratic backsliding and political persecutions of the opposition, with board member Kenneth Roth describing a "disturbing tendency on the part of the current government to try to suppress opposition points of view and actually to undermine some of the independent institutions that might have served as a check on executive overreach".
International politics Foreign Policy viewed the 2026 election as geopolitically important for the future of Armenia and the region in the context of the 2026 Iran war and the Russo-Ukrainian war. BRICS members Russia and Iran viewed the actions of the Pashinyan government as hostile to their security interests in the Caucasus, especially Pashinyan's support for the Trump's Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). The Iranian–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in January 2025 commits both Iran and Russia to preventing the "interference" and "destabilizing presence" of external actors in the region. In May 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Pashinyan's plans to have Armenia join the European Union required "special consideration". Drawing parallels between Armenia and Ukraine, he noted that "everything that is happening in respect of Ukraine" began with the country attempting to join the EU. The Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael described the election, quoting an Armenian expert, as "the most geopoliticised elections" Armenia had ever had.
Conversely, the EU, Azerbaijan, and Turkey endorsed Pashinyan. In February, US Vice President JD Vance endorsed Pashinyan. In May, one week before the election, Pashinyan was also endorsed by US President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In April, Azerbaijan's Presidential Special Representative Elchin Amirbekov said that the election, along with Armenia's possible adoption of a new constitution, will "play an important role in signing a [final] peace agreement."
Disinformation and alleged Russian interference Reuters reported on 29 May, citing interviews with five anonymous Western intelligence officials and "documents" seen by the media outlet, that Russia was intensifying covert efforts to undermine Pashinyan's re-election in order to avoid an Armenian pivot toward the West. These would include disinformation campaigns supporting pro-Russian candidates and a scheme to transport tens of thousands of Russian Armenians to swing the vote. Reuters reported Karapetyan as being the Russian government's preferred candidate according to three of these intelligence officials. According to Bot Blocker, a collective of anonymous Russian dissident tech analysts cited by The Daily Telegraph, Armenia was facing the second-largest state-sponsored disinformation campaign in modern European history, only surpassed by Russia's failed anti-Western campaign at the 2025 Moldovan parliamentary election.