An Armenian woman was detained for writing on a ruling party poster.

Security forces in Yerevan detained a woman who used a felt-tip pen to write graffiti on an election poster of the ruling Civil Contract party. The woman has since gone silent, her lawyer reported.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, the Central Election Commission of Armenia registered all 19 political forces that applied to participate in the parliamentary elections. On May 14, the commission invalidated the registrations of 45 candidates who withdrew. Among them were candidates on the Wings of Unity and Bright Armenia party lists.

Security forces detained a woman in the Yerevan metro who had written on a ruling party poster with a felt-tip pen, according to lawyer Ruben Melikyan.

He explained that the woman called him around noon on May 15. "An unknown woman called me and said she was in the subway and was being detained for writing something with a marker on a Civil Contract party campaign poster. I gave her some procedural instructions, saying that this act could be classified at most as an administrative offense, in which case the maximum prison term is three hours," News.am quoted him as saying late in the evening of May 15.

According to Melikyan, he asked the woman to call back both in the event of her release and in the event of a prolonged detention.

"After that, she became unavailable and never called back. I called her too, but she still hasn't," the lawyer said.

As a reminder, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against blogger Artak Avetisyan, who called Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a "traitor" on May 12. Security officials deemed this to be incitement to hatred. The court remanded Avetisyan in custody.

The ruling party's election campaign is accompanied by the use of administrative resources.

On May 13, teachers and students from schools in the Aragatsotn region took part in the ruling party's election campaign instead of attending classes. Cultural Center employees and school cleaners were also called in during their working hours to support the authorities.

The involvement of public sector employees and schoolchildren in election campaigning is contrary to the Electoral Code, the Electoral Commission recalled. Ruling party representatives distanced themselves from the incident in the Aragatsotn region, but observers and the teachers themselves confirmed the violation. Political scientist Gagik Ambaryan previously stated that the Armenian authorities are using administrative resources to attract large crowds to their meetings. Specifically, he noted, in Gyumri, where a concert was held, many spectators were civil servants and their family members, who had received orders to be in the square and support the Civil Contract party. According to the opposition, the Armenian authorities are also pressuring civil servants who sympathize with the opposition.