Armenian opposition condemns PACE election assessment as 'superficial'

The opposition Hayastan alliance on Thursday accused observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of minimizing systematic democratic backsliding and political repression ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections.

In a sharply critical statement responding to PACE’s interim assessment, the opposition rejected assertions that “constructive cooperation” had been established between the Armenian authorities and political stakeholders in the run-up to the June 7 vote.

The alliance argued that the government was instead employing “the full punitive arsenal” against opposition forces, including criminal prosecutions, hate speech, political intimidation and targeted pressure campaigns.

According to the statement, the PACE assessment was “overly vague, generalized and superficial,” failing to reflect what the opposition characterized as a deliberate and coordinated effort by the ruling party to secure political self-preservation.

Hayastan said the practices included institutional repression, selective justice, restrictions on dissent and the misuse of state mechanisms against political opponents.

The bloc also accused international observers of creating a false equivalence between the government and the opposition, despite the authorities’ extensive control over state institutions, law enforcement agencies, administrative resources and much of the country’s information space.

“Non-specific assessments do not restrain the authorities — they encourage them further,” the statement said, warning that such conclusions contribute to “an atmosphere of international tolerance and impunity” that undermines democratic electoral standards.

The opposition further complained that concerns raised by opposition members had merely been recorded as allegations, while government narratives were presented as established facts.

Among the issues it said were omitted or insufficiently addressed were allegations of deepening authoritarian governance, executive dominance over the judiciary and legislature, and politically motivated prosecutions based on “fabricated or unsubstantiated evidence.”

Hayastan also criticized amendments to Armenia’s Electoral Code adopted two months before the elections, arguing that the changes violated the principle of legal stability and contradicted recommendations issued by the Venice Commission.

The alliance accused the government of extensively exploiting administrative resources and public finances during the campaign period, citing salary increases for Constitutional Court judges, pension hikes and bonus payments to loyal officials that it said had not been included in the state budget.

Additional concerns raised by the opposition included unequal media access, bias by Armenia’s Public Television Company, selective enforcement of campaign finance and charity regulations, and what it described as fear-driven rhetoric by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the ruling Civil Contract party warning of renewed war should opposition forces come to power.

The statement also condemned political directives issued to prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, as well as rhetoric threatening the imprisonment or punishment of political opponents.

Hayastan further rejected as “entirely unfounded and unbalanced” PACE’s reference to the Armenian Apostolic Church’s “unprecedented involvement in politics.”

Instead, the opposition argued that international observers should have addressed unconstitutional pressure and coercive actions against the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos Karekin II, including references in the ruling party’s political platform advocating his removal.

The alliance said it hoped the PACE observation mission would adopt a “more thorough, evidence-based and comprehensive approach” in its future assessments in order to safeguard democratic principles and the integrity of the electoral process.