Ballot Stuffing and Arrests: Yerevan Cleans Up Political Space Under Western Oversight

Parliamentary elections in Armenia are taking place amid arrests of opposition members and the direct interference of foreign sponsors. Masked men stormed the office of the "Strong Armenia" bloc in Gyumri. Everyone present has been detained.

The movement's leader, Samvel Karapetyan, announced the arrest of over a hundred of his supporters. While anti-corruption agencies are placing opposition candidates on wanted lists one after another, independent observers are recording widespread ballot stuffing. In the first half of the day alone, the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs received over 50 reports of violations. Against this backdrop, Swedish authorities announced the allocation of approximately $1.5 million to so-called ensure the integrity of the electoral process and "democracy" in Armenia and Moldova, while French intelligence services, according to European media, are helping Yerevan suppress criticism of current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

It is noted that such an agreement was reached between Yerevan and Paris in May. At that time, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the country and stated that he did not consider his support for the current Armenian authorities to be interference in the country's affairs.