Armenian politicians began their campaign for votes before the start of their campaign.

Election banners and portraits of political leaders have already appeared on the streets of Armenia, despite the fact that campaigning has been officially permitted since May 8. Of the 19 parties and blocs, no more than four have a chance of entering parliament, and the battle will be between Pashinyan's and Karapetyan's parties, analysts believe.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia" party submitted documents to the Central Election Commission to participate in the National Assembly elections, which will take place on June 7. According to analysts, the parties of Karapetyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and former President Robert Kocharyan will be key competitors in the elections.

Campaigning for the parliamentary elections began before the official announcement

The election campaign in Armenia began long before the official start of the campaign – May 8. For over a month, all major political forces have been actively campaigning, visiting various settlements across Armenia and publishing videos on social media reporting the results of these visits.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling Civil Contract party and the opposition Strong Armenia party of Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan stand out from the rest: large buses with photographs of their leaders and political slogans, outdoor advertising in cities and villages in the form of large and small banners, as well as aggressive advertising on social media, including on Armenian YouTube, where it became possible relatively recently, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Central Election Commission of Armenia told "Caucasian Knot" that the appearance of outdoor campaigning by political forces does not constitute a violation.

"We received inquiries regarding the appearance of banners and photographs of leaders of political forces before the official start "We can say that this does not constitute a violation of the RA Electoral Code," said a CEC representative.

Other forces, such as former President Robert Kocharyan's opposition bloc "Armenia" and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan's "Prosperous Armenia" party, are also actively campaigning, but are noticeably inferior in the number of banners, visits to the regions, and social media advertising.

These four political forces will compete for votes, although 19 political forces have submitted applications to the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia to participate in the elections scheduled for June 7, 2026.

This is evidenced by the results of opinion polls conducted by the Armenian office of Gallup International Association, published on April 30.

According to them, 26.7% of respondents will vote for the ruling Civil Contract party, 14.1% for the Strong Armenia bloc, 8.2% for the Armenia bloc, and 7.5% for the Prosperous Armenia party. The remaining participants, according to the polls, will not enter parliament.

Ruling party MP Vahagn Aleksanyan doubts these polls, assuring that the Strong Armenia bloc itself does not believe it can receive more than 10% of the vote.

"They recently signed a cooperation agreement with the fourth largest political force. This means they must gain more than 10% of the vote to enter parliament. But yesterday they refused to cooperate with one of the parties for one simple reason – so they could get into parliament with 8% of the vote, rather than 10%, as is the case with four political forces in a single bloc. They simply don't believe they can get 10%," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, Samvel Karapetyan's team is actively distributing campaign bribes to get into parliament.

"Note how many cases of promises to pay bribes for votes have been uncovered by law enforcement agencies over the past few days. That's how they want to get into parliament," he noted.

They are doing everything they can to make people afraid and prevent them from supporting the opposition.

Samvel Karapetyan's representatives deny all accusations.

"We don't know anyone who promises money for votes." "These people are not members of our political force, our team, and are not relatives of the Karapetyan family. The wiretaps of conversations that are published mean nothing; there is no evidence that we are handing out bribes; it's a lie," Karapetyan's party candidate, David Ghazinyan, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, the authorities are using various methods to put pressure on opposition supporters.

"They are doing everything to make people afraid and not support the opposition. All these wiretaps, detentions, and arrests indicate precisely this," he noted.

Political scientists have named the main contenders for parliamentary seats.

Independent political scientist Gagik Hambaryan believes that the parties of Kocharyan, Karapetyan, and Tsarukyan are the authorities' main competitors in the elections.

"These are the main opposition forces that could get into parliament. But the power struggle is between Pashinyan and Karapetyan. "The remaining opposition parties, if they enter parliament, will in all likelihood support Karapetyan in the fight against Pashinyan," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, the authorities are using administrative resources to attract large numbers of people to their meetings.

>"In Gyumri, where the concert was organized, many> of the participants were civil servants and their family members; they were ordered to be in the square and support the Civil Contract party. The same thing happened in Yerevan, when on April 25 they organized a large concert, invited foreign and local stars, and then announced that all 60,000 participants came to support Pashinyan. In fact, they came to listen to the stars' songs and enjoy their creativity. It is possible that there are instances of coercion to other actions, but there is no public information or complaints about them yet," he noted.

Gagik Tsarukyan's supporters note, that the Armenian authorities are pressuring civil servants who sympathize with the opposition.

“We have a situation today where people are being fired for their political views. We know of cases where people are being fired for liking an opposition representative. There have been cases where people were fired for a post written on social media,” Arman Abovyan told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Another independent political scientist, Stepan Grigoryan, explains that one of the main reasons for criticism of Pashinyan is his conflict with the church.

“Pashinyan’s opponents are using this conflict for criticism, and very serious criticism at that. All forces, including Karapetyan, Kocharyan, and Tsarukyan, are speaking out in support of the church and against Pashinyan, noting that he, on instructions from outside, wants to get rid of "The Catholicos and appoint a spiritual leader loyal to the authorities," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, against this backdrop, there have been no accusations from the authorities against the Church regarding their interference in the election campaign.

"Previously, the authorities talked a lot about the Church waging a campaign against the authorities before and during the elections, agitating for people not to vote for them. But now, strangely enough, there is not a single such accusation against the Church. All the authorities' attention is focused on the Strong Armenia party, which, according to law enforcement agencies, plans to distribute election bribes," he noted.

>As for the use of black PR, such cases have been recorded.

"We are talking about videos that talk about how bad things will be if Pashinyan wins. These are, accordingly, being disseminated by Karapetyan's team. "And Pashinyan's team is distributing videos claiming that if Karapetyan wins, war and total chaos await us. There haven't been any outright deepfakes yet, but the real battle is still ahead," he emphasized.