Opposition supporters held a rally outside the Constitutional Court of Armenia.

The Constitutional Court of Armenia has begun hearing a case challenging the results of the parliamentary elections held on June 7. A decision will be made no later than July 4, with the next hearing scheduled for Saturday, June 27.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," seven parties appealed the Central Election Commission's final decision on the parliamentary elections to the Constitutional Court. The court consolidated all appeals into one proceeding and scheduled the first hearing for June 26.

A decision on the opposition political forces' complaints regarding the election results must be made no later than July 4—the last day established by law, Constitutional Court Chairman Arman Dilanyan stated during the hearings that began today. He noted that the Constitutional Court "has little time left," and therefore proposed holding the hearing on the upcoming non-working day, June 27.

"Today we can work until 7:00 PM or 7:30 PM. We will also hold a hearing on Saturday, after which we will decide whether to hold the hearing on Sunday or not. But please, under no circumstances rule out the possibility of holding the hearing on Sunday. It will begin at 11:00 AM and could last until 9:00 PM, 10:00 PM, or midnight. I am not ruling anything out," Armenpress quotes him as saying.

Two Constitutional Court judges, Vladimir Vardanyan and Artak Zeynalyan, were excluded from the trial. The court deemed them potentially biased, as Vardanyan is a former member of the Civil Contract party, and Zeynalyan is a member of the Republic party. The Armenia bloc also filed a motion to remove Judge Seda Safaryan, citing her participation in the 2021 elections on a joint list with a representative of the For the Sake of the Republic party, a party in the current case. None of the judges supported this motion, and it was under consideration, Yerevan First reports.

The main defendant in the case is the Central Election Commission, with the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Anti-Corruption Committee as co-defendants. The court also brought in the ruling Civil Contract party as a third party, News.am reports.

Attorney Aram Vardevanyan, a representative of the Strong Armenia bloc, stated before the hearing that "the Constitutional Court has very serious shortcomings in matters of neutrality, independence, and impartiality." "The Constitutional Court has one mission in this regard: to respond to and document the widespread violations that occurred before our eyes during the electoral processes," ArmInfo quotes Vardevanyan as saying.

Protest outside the Constitutional Court

Opposition forces challenging the election results announced a protest outside the Constitutional Court for 5:00 PM (4:00 PM Moscow time) today. By this time, police forces had been deployed to the Constitutional Court building. Representatives and supporters of the "Strong Armenia" and "Armenia" blocs are participating in the protest, and it was also supported by representatives of the "Prosperous Armenia" party and participants of the "Ayakve" initiative.

The announcement of a "rally in defense of citizens' votes" was, in particular, circulated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation "Dashnaktsutyun" (ARF), a member of the "Armenia" bloc. Its leader, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, stated that the opposition will announce its participation or non-participation in parliament only after the Constitutional Court's decision.

"After the Constitutional Court's decision, we will present our position—whether we accept mandates or not, and if we do, what agenda will we bring? If we go to parliament, what minimum roadmap do we envision, what agenda, what steps, what regime, what will we do? And if we don't go, what will we do? We will come to a final conclusion after the Constitutional Court's decision," Golos Armenii quotes him as saying.

The parliamentary elections have effectively become a referendum on the future of the current government and Armenia's foreign policy. The "Caucasian Knot" published a report entitled "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia." Analysts have named the Prosperous Armenia party of oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, the Armenia bloc of former president Robert Kocharyan, and the Strong Armenia bloc of businessman Samvel Karapetyan as the most pro-Russian forces among the election participants.