RFE/RL correspondents have routinely witnessed their presence at such rallies held in small towns and villages. A community comprising Aparan, a town 55 kilometers north of Yerevan, and surrounding villages is a case in point. Classes in several local schools were cut short when Pashinian visited the area last week.
Scores of their students and teachers attended his rallies there. Akanates (Eyewitness), an independent election-monitoring group, said that they were illegally forced to do so by school principals and local government officials.
Responding to a resulting uproar, Pashinian said on May 14 he has told four principals to tender their resignations and wait for the findings of an “internal inquiry.” The Armenian Ministry of Education has still not reported the findings of that inquiry, leading critics to allege a coverup of the practice prohibited by Armenian law.
The practice seems to be continuing unabated. On Thursday morning, Pashinian was greeted by flag-waving students, schoolteachers and local government officials in Verin Artashat, a village 20 kilometers south of Yerevan. Several of the children told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that they were allowed to finish classes early to welcome the prime minister. Others refused to talk on camera.
Pashinian was also greeted by a group of children from a local cultural center who performed folk dances for him. Akanates filed on Friday a lawsuit against the state-owned center’s director and choreographer, accusing them of organizing the show in breach of the Electoral Code.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian campaigns in Lori province, May 20, 2026.
Deputy Minister of Education Artur Melkonian commented evasively on schoolchildren’s widespread involvement in Pashinian rallies. Meanwhile, Pashinian seems impressed with it.
“I am increasingly starting to call this process a children’s revolution because children in this process are constantly inspiring me and, I’m sure, you and your parents too,” he said.
Akanates has also protested against the presence of public sector employees at Pashinian’s campaign engagements, saying that it is the result of Civil Contract’s abuse of administrative resources.
“They are prohibited from campaigning during working hours or even outside of working hours when they are acting in their official capacity,” said the group’s lawyer, Davit Gyurjian.
Kajayr Nikoghosian, the pro-government mayor of the northern town of Spitak, greeted Pashinian together with his practically entire staff when the premier campaigned there on Tuesday. Nikoghosian’s deputy, Artak Matosian, punched an RFE/RL reporter’s camera when she wondered why he is not at work.
Civil Contract was accused by opposition groups and media of abusing its administrative resources even before the official start of campaigning for the June 7 parliamentary elections. One of the opposition leaders, Arman Tatoyan, publicized late last week purported audios of a college lecturer affiliated with the ruling party ordering her students to attend a Pashinian rally in the town of Armavir.
Tatoyan formally submitted the recordings to prosecutors on Monday. No criminal case has been opened so far.
No Civil Contract members or supporters have been prosecuted on election-related charges to date. Law-enforcement authorities have arrested instead dozens of opposition activists and supporters on charges of buying votes or paying people to attend opposition rallies.
