Newly elected Mayor of Etchmiadzin Argishti Mekhakyan. Photo via social media

By OC Media

Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party has won the local council elections in Armenia’s religious center of Vagharshapat, also known as Etchmiadzin, according to preliminary results published by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

With ballots counted from all 47 polling stations, Civil Contract received 15,298, or 48.51%, of the votes on Sunday. The runners-up were the Victory bloc with 10,051 votes, or 31.87%, while the remaining six parties received negligible votes.

Turnout was poor, however, with only 36.72% of eligible voters participating.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Civil Contract’s candidate Argishti Mekhakyan, whose party is set to secure a majority in the council.

In a separate Facebook post, Pashinyan praised voters for what he called a ‘democratic election’ and said the result showed support for his government’s political course.

‘You elected Argishti Mekhakyan as mayor, reaffirming that a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Republic of Armenia is the best way to honor the memory of our martyrs,’ he said.

Pashinyan tied the election results with his fight against the Armenian Apostolic Church’s leadership, saying the vote ‘gave momentum to the process of freeing our sanctum from Ktrich Nersisyan’, referring to Catholicos Karekin II by his secular name.

Pashinyan described the outcome as a ‘resounding prelude to the 2026 parliamentary elections’, adding: ‘The people of the Republic of Armenia will win the 2026 elections.’

Observation groups and party proxies reported a number of alleged violations throughout the day.

At several polling stations, opposition members accused Civil Contract representatives of possessing voter lists or directing citizens to vote for Mekhakyan. Civil Contract proxies denied the allegations, saying they had only recorded voter flow.

There were also reports of alleged double voting, attempts to vote on behalf of other citizens, and disputes between proxies.

Daniel Ioannisyan of the Independent Observer alliance said their monitors had visited around 40 polling stations by midday on Sunday. They recorded ‘three procedural cases, two disputes, three cases of organized voter transport, one deliberate open vote, one threat, one case of inaction by a commission chair, four cases of significant errors in the voter register and one instance of the temporary removal of a voting coupon’.

Observers also noted large discrepancies in turnout in the settlements of Tsaghkalanj, Haytagh, and Arshaluys, where participation was reportedly five times higher than in 2021.

The CEC has not yet issued a final statement on the complaints.

Early on Monday, Armenia’s Prosecutor’s office sent the charges against several church leaders over alleged obstruction of election campaign to the court. Among the accused is the head of the Aragatsotn Diocese, Mkrtich Archbishop Nersisyan, Karekin II’s nephew.