Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan’s wife, Veronika Zonabend, has announced plans to lead an international women’s humanitarian delegation to Baku in the coming weeks to visit Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan, including her husband. Zonabend said the initiative, launched at Vardanyan’s request, seeks to restore humanitarian contact with the prisoners following the closure of the ICRC office in Baku. She also called on Azerbaijani authorities to facilitate visits and allow the delivery of letters, photographs and family packages to the detainees.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will discuss the South Caucasus during his upcoming visit to Moscow, with talks expected to focus on developments following Armenia's recent parliamentary elections and ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan peace negotiations, according to Reuters. The discussions come as Ankara links progress in the peace process to the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations. Fidan is also expected to raise Russia-Ukraine talks, Black Sea security, and Turkey's proposal to host further peace negotiations.

🇪🇺 The European Union is preparing additional measures to support Armenia, with EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg to discuss expanded financial assistance and closer economic cooperation. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said the bloc is committed to helping Armenia remain resilient, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced €50 million in immediate aid and new trade routes to help offset Russian restrictions on Armenian exports. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos also confirmed she will visit Yerevan on July 5 to advance concrete steps in strengthening EU-Armenia relations.

ARF Armenia Supreme Body representative and Armenia Alliance MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan says the June 7 parliamentary election results have called into question the legitimacy of Nikol Pashinyan and his political team, not the opposition. Saghatelyan reminded that despite unprecedented external backing, the extensive use of administrative resources, and numerous electoral violations, the ruling party still failed to secure 50% of the votes cast. He added that opposition forces collectively won around 550,000 votes despite widespread pressure and irregularities. Rejecting Pashinyan's accusations of fraud and vote buying, Saghatelyan declared that "if there is an illegitimate political force in this country, it is Nikol Pashinyan and his political team."

In a statement published earlier today, Armenia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) argued that holding revotes in invalidated precincts could distort the election outcome because voters would already know the nationwide results and might engage in "tactical voting," making a partial rerun unfair. The statement cites proportionality, equality of voters, Constitutional Court principles, and a Venice Commission opinion to argue that a revote should not proceed if it risks further distorting the electorate's will. However, the reasoning sounds more like an excuse to avoid a legally prescribed remedy than a convincing justification. Rather than addressing alleged violations through a new vote, the CEC appears to suggest that the possibility of strategic voting outweighs the need to restore disenfranchised voters' rights and correct invalidated results.

BREAKING: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says a peace agreement has been reached between the United States and Iran following intensive talks, with both sides agreeing to the immediate and permanent cessation of military operations, including in Lebanon. Sharif said the agreement is set to be formally signed on June 19 in Switzerland, thanking Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for their roles in the mediation process, while technical talks are expected to begin this week.

BREAKING: Armenian law enforcement authorities prevented Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan, from leaving the country at Zvartnots International Airport. Earlier today, Kocharyan’s office announced that he was departing on a previously planned three day private trip that had been postponed due to the election campaign, saying the advance notice was intended to counter possible misinformation regarding opposition figures’ travel. Following the incident, Kocharyan’s chief of staff, Bagrat Mikoyan, condemned the travel ban as “illegal” and imposed “without any explanation.” He also questioned how pro government media outlets appeared to be aware of the restriction in advance and accused the authorities of turning Armenia into a “concentration camp of democracy,” while insisting Kocharyan had no intention of fleeing the country. No official explanation for the reported travel restriction has been issued by the authorities.

🔴 Six Armenian opposition parties have issued a joint statement rejecting the legitimacy of the June 7 parliamentary elections, noting that the official results do not reflect the will of the people. The signatories — the Strong Armenia Alliance, Armenia Alliance, Prosperous Armenia Party, Bright Armenia Party, Armenian National Congress, and National Democratic Pole — cite widespread abuse of administrative resources, political persecution and arrests of opposition figures, obstruction of opposition campaign headquarters, media bias, and manipulation of vote counting, including the selective invalidation of polling station results. The parties state that the election cannot serve as the basis for a legitimate government and warn that responsibility for any further political escalation rests with Nikol Pashinyan and his administration. They say they will continue to act within the framework of the Constitution and democratic principles while defending citizens’ right to freely express their will.

Azerbaijani presidential foreign policy adviser Hikmet Hajiyev visited Armenia for the first time, holding talks with Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan in Dilijan. The two sides said they discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agenda and emphasized continuing direct bilateral dialogue, with particular focus on confidence-building initiatives between their civil societies. They also agreed to continue working-level contacts, with the next meeting scheduled to take place in Azerbaijan. No further details about the discussions or any concrete outcomes were disclosed.

Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission is scheduled to convene tomorrow at 6:00 p.m local time. The session will not only announce the final election results but will also consider holding repeat voting in three polling stations, as well as applications filed by the Strong Armenia Alliance and Wings of Unity seeking to have the elections declared invalid.

Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan has filed a lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan, seeking a public retraction, an apology, and more than 9 million drams in damages over remarks that described him as a "criminal," "spy," and "agent." The Yerevan Civil Court has accepted the case for proceedings. Tsarukyan is asking the court to compel Pashinyan to publicly declare the statements false and issue a retraction within five working days of a final judgment.

Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission has finalized the recount results from 637 polling stations. Updated vote totals: • Civil Contract: 727,820 ( 1,148) • Strong Armenia Alliance: 340,088 ( 508) • Armenia Alliance: 145,113 ( 217) • Prosperous Armenia Party: 58,378 ( 147) The recount process resulted in vote increases for all four major political forces.

Armenian election law does not permit the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to finalize the allocation of parliamentary mandates if voting results have been invalidated in individual polling stations. Article 95(1)(3) of the Electoral Code obliges the CEC to order repeat voting in polling stations where results have been declared invalid before finalizing the National Assembly election results. As a result, the CEC would be required to postpone the final distribution of mandates until after the repeat vote, delaying the certification of results by at least seven days. The more serious concern is not the invalidation of just three polling stations, but the fact that numerous reported violations—including breaches of ballot secrecy, misuse of administrative resources, and other electoral irregularities—were not addressed in the same manner. There are sufficient legal grounds to invalidate the parliamentary elections as a whole and organize a nationwide repeat vote rather than limiting the process to a handful of polling stations.

Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan says BHK will continue to defend voters' ballots through "all means permitted by law" and is preparing legal and political action to challenge Armenia's final parliamentary election results. Tsarukyan says post-election recounts showed the party had won enough votes to enter parliament, but the Central Electoral Commission later invalidated the results of several polling stations without ordering a revote, a decision that was clearly aimed at stripping BHK of parliamentary representation. The party is preparing court challenges while launching consultations with other opposition forces to coordinate a unified agenda and next steps.

Strong Armenia leader Samvel Karapetyan says his alliance will take its seats in parliament only if it concludes that doing so is the fastest way to remove Nikol Pashinyan from power. Otherwise, it will pursue street protests. Karapetyan announced that the alliance will appeal to the Constitutional Court, seeking either the annulment of the election results and new elections or the holding of a second round. He argued that a runoff is necessary to ensure Armenia has a legitimate government. He also rejected the election outcome, saying the vote was held under intimidation and mass detentions, making it neither free nor fair. "Under these elections, everyone won except the Armenian people," Karapetyan said.