Armenian Opposition Groups Hint at ‘Further Escalation’ as Final Election Results Are Announced

Tsarukyan is seeking 9 million drams ($23,000) in compensation for defamation and insult, as well as a public retraction.

Tsarukyan has also filed a lawsuit against the public broadcaster, seeking a total of 12 million drams ($31,000) in compensation over a report aired during the election campaign. The lawsuit argues that the broadcaster spread false information by suggesting that Prosperous Armenia had been created at the behest of another political force or individual.

At the same time, a number of opposition leaders, including Tsarukyan, Strong Armenia’s Narek Karapetyan, and former President Robert Kocharyan have been barred from leaving Armenia for Russia following the elections.

On Sunday, June 14. a video showing Kocharyan undergoing a passport check at the airport began to circulate. Bagrat Mikoyan, head of Kocharyan’s office, stated that Kocharyan had planned to travel for only three days on personal business and that authorities had “unlawfully blocked” his departure “without any justification.”

“If any bootlicker of Aliyev can even imagine that President Kocharyan might flee the country, they are gravely mistaken. There is only one person who will flee Armenia, and that person is Aliyev’s lapdog (if, of course, he is lucky enough to escape),” Mikoyan said, apparently in reference to Pashinyan.

In turn, Pashinyan published a video message calling on his political opponents not to “rush to pack your bags.”

“I said during the election campaign that you would dream of having the opportunity to flee Armenia, and you would not have it,” Pashinyan said.

Authorities have not publicly clarified the legal grounds on which the departures were reportedly prevented.

Separately, Gohar Vardanyan, a local civil official in the border village of Kirants, said she was pressured to submit a resignation letter after publishing a Facebook post disputing claims that Civil Contract’s strong result in the village reflected local support.

Presenting voting data, Vardanyan argued on June 8 that the outcome was influenced not only by local residents but also by border guards, conscript soldiers, and other voters who do not permanently reside in the village.

“Dear authorities, you don’t give a damn about these people [residents of Kirants]. The only thing that matters to you is showing that the people of Kirants are satisfied and grateful. And it doesn”t matter what these people actually think or feel,” Vardanyan wrote.

She published what she described as her forced resignation statement on 12 June, though the document itself was dated 10 June, two days after her original post.

According to Vardanyan, the main reason for the pressure was a previous Facebook post that she had refused to delete.

Kirants became a focal point in spring 2024 during Armenia’s border delimitation process with Azerbaijan.

Under an agreement reached between Yerevan and Baku, Armenia returned control over several Soviet-era border areas in the Tavush region that had been held by Armenian forces since the early 1990s. The process resulted in the demarcation of sections of the Armenia–Azerbaijan border near Kirants and neighboring villages.

The decision sparked weeks of protests in Tavush and Yerevan, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and the opposition-led Tavush for the Motherland movement. Demonstrators accused the government of making unilateral territorial concessions and organized road blockades, marches, and rallies demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.

(This article originally appeared on www.oc-media.org on June 15.)