Narek Karapetyan, a member of the council of the Strong Armenia party, continues to hold the status of parliamentary candidate in Armenia’s National Assembly elections. The statement was made by Central Electoral Commission spokesperson Seda Ghukasyan, according to Factor.am .
She explained that the CEC does not have the authority to conduct independent investigations and relies on information provided by the Migration and Citizenship Service of Armenia’s Interior Ministry. According to the information submitted to the CEC, Karapetyan is considered solely an Armenian citizen.
Earlier, Armenia’s Investigative Committee issued a statement alleging that Karapetyan concealed information about holding foreign citizenship, based on which the Interior Ministry submitted a crime report to investigators.
“According to a report on an apparent crime received from Armenia’s Interior Ministry police by the Yerevan Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee, N.K., nominated as the lead candidate of the ‘Strong Armenia’ alliance in the June 7, 2026 parliamentary elections, despite being warned about legal liability for submitting false information, deliberately concealed information about holding or previously holding foreign citizenship. Specifically, he submitted an application to the Migration and Citizenship Service falsely declaring that he was not a citizen of another state, thereby concealing information about foreign citizenship, which constitutes an obstacle to obtaining the status of a public official,” the Investigative Committee said.
According to the investigative body, criminal proceedings were initiated under Part 1 of Article 449 of Armenia’s Criminal Code, which concerns concealing information that prevents obtaining or retaining the status of a public official.
Claims that Narek Karapetyan held Russian citizenship were earlier circulated by National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan, who published a screenshot and wrote: “Is Narek Karapetyan a Russian citizen?” The attached document contained legal entity data listing “Russian citizen” next to Karapetyan’s name.
Shortly after the publication, Karapetyan responded: “Alen Robertovich, don’t do things like this. I am not a Russian citizen. Apart from Armenian citizenship, I have never had any other citizenship. I have lived in Russia less than in England or Switzerland.”
On Thursday morning, Karapetyan again insisted that he is solely an Armenian citizen and described the controversy surrounding his citizenship as “an attempt by the authorities to distract voters’ attention.”
