Armenian electoral body confirms citizenship of candidate Narek Karapetyan

Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has confirmed that it reviewed and verified the documents of Narek Karapetyan, a member of the “Strong Armenia” party and nephew of detained Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, as part of the candidate registration process.

CEC spokesperson Seda Gukasyan said that all candidates participating in elections undergo preliminary verification, including confirmation of Armenian citizenship and residency requirements, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

“Information on the electoral lists of all parties participating in the elections is available on the CEC website. All candidates registered by the CEC have had their relevant documents preliminarily verified by the commission, including documents confirming permanent residence in the Republic of Armenia over the past four years and possession of Armenian citizenship. These documents are provided to candidates by the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and were submitted to the CEC,” the spokesperson said.

The clarification follows a public exchange involving Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan, who is also a candidate from the ruling Civil Contract party list. Simonyan published a document questioning Karapetyan’s citizenship status, asking: “Is Narek Karapetyan a citizen of the Russian Federation?”

The document shared by Simonyan reportedly contained information suggesting that Karapetyan was a Russian citizen.

Karapetyan rejected the claim, responding publicly: “Alen Robertovich, please do not do such things. I am not a citizen of Russia; apart from Armenian citizenship, I have never held any other citizenship, and I have lived in Russia for less time than I have in England or Switzerland.”

By Sabina Mammadli