The Wings of Unity party’s leader, Arman Tatoyan, publicized purported audios of such instructions at a news conference in Yerevan. They apparently feature Lusine Grigorian, an Armavir-based activist of the ruling Civil Contract party who teaches at a regional state college.
“Dear guys, tomorrow at five o'clock we have to gather in the square, this applies to both of your groups,” Grigorian can be heard telling her students.
“I have been instructed to say this and I am instructing you, guys,” she says. “Don't let it happen that I go and stand in the square and see that neither of my two groups is there. Look, I have to look my superiors in eye and you must look me in the eye.”
“I don’t know why, but it has been instructed to make sure that there are as many of you out there as possible,” she says in another recording.
Grigorian denied any wrongdoing when she was contacted by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“I didn't give anyone any instructions, it's a slander. People are trying to get me in trouble for political motives,” she said, refusing to comment further.
Tatoyan did not say when the audios were recorded. He portrayed them as further proof of Pashinian and his party abusing their government levers for electoral purposes. Pashinian campaigned in Armavir on Friday. He ended his campaign trip with a rally held in the provincial capital of the same name.
The recordings were released two days after teachers and students of several public schools in the neighboring Aragatsotn province interrupted classes to attend Pashinian’s campaign rallies. An Armenian election-monitoring group said that they were illegally forced to do so by school principals and local government officials.
Responding to the resulting uproar, the premier said on Thursday he has told four principals to tender their resignations and wait for the findings of an “internal inquiry.” Scores of other schoolchildren were present at his campaign meetings in Armavir held during school classes.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service it will look into the Armavir recordings only if Tatoyan appeals to it “in a manner defined by the law.”
“Had the opposition done such a thing, they would have immediately taken measures and arrested everyone,” complained Tatoyan.
The opposition leader, who served as the country’s human rights ombudsman from 2016-2022, has repeatedly accused the ruling party of abusing its administrative resources since the official start of the election campaign. The Hayastan alliance, a larger opposition group led by former President Robert Kocharian, made similar allegations on Friday.
“There are reports that employees of state and local government bodies are being forced to vote for the ruling party in the June 7 elections under threat of dismissal,” Hayastan said, urging them to call a special hotline opened by it.
No Civil Contract members or supporters have been prosecuted on relevant charges to date. Law-enforcement authorities have arrested dozens of opposition activists and supporters on charges of buying votes or paying people to attend opposition rallies. Virtually all of them are linked to billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance widely regarded as Pashinian’s number one election challenger.
The Anti-Corruption Committee reported on Friday more such arrests condemned by Strong Armenia as politically motivated.