Throughout the entire electoral process, the Strong Armenia bloc operated under conditions of unprecedented and massive pressure and persecution organized by the authorities’ system. Strong Armenia party spokesperson Marianna Ghahramanyan on Monday wrote this on Facebook in connection with Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“The pre-election phase was accompanied by targeted actions against our leader [i.e. the Strong Armenia bloc’s PM candidate—businessman and philanthropist—Samvel Karapetyan], [MP] candidates, supporters and teammates, mass illegal arrests and criminal prosecutions, which were aimed at limiting political competition and influencing the expression of free will of voters.

On the voting day itself, administrative resources were widely used, involving state and community levers, in an attempt to predetermine the outcome of the elections. On the day of the election, numerous electoral violations were recorded, about which reports were received throughout the day, from all over the [Armenian] republic.

The noted phenomena could not but have an impact on the electoral process and its results.

In addition, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred: before the CEC [i.e. the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia] processed the results of all polling stations, [PM] Nikol Pashinyan announced ‘victory and single-handedly forming a government,’ which was a direct instruction and signal to the CEC.

The figures publicized under these conditions cannot reflect the real picture [of Sunday’s parliamentary election results] and be perceived without in-depth study and legal and political assessment.

The central headquarters of the Strong Armenia bloc is currently busy analyzing the situation and clarifying the real picture of the expression of the will of the voters, after the completion of which we will present our position and next steps,” added the press secretary of the Strong Armenia party.