The fall of Garegin and the revanchists What the results of the elections in Armenia’s spiritual capital reveal

Municipal elections were recently held in Armenia, this time in Vagharshapat. This community includes the city of Etchmiadzin, where the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians is located, as well as the surrounding villages. Accordingly, these elections carried systemic, political, and symbolic significance for the entire country.

Opposition Armenian media had beforehand proclaimed that the elections in Vagharshapat would not be merely a local urban contest, but a kind of “field test” for the authorities. Dashnaks, supporters of the current Catholicos Garegin II (born Ktrich Nersisyan), Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan claimed that the results could be interpreted as an indicator of broader processes in the country. In simple terms, this was an important gauge of public opinion on a number of issues, including the level of support for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his confrontation with Garegin II and the revanchists.

The results of these elections demonstrated a crushing defeat for the forces opposing the current authorities. The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia has already released the preliminary results for the Vagharshapat municipal council across all 47 polling stations: the ruling Civil Contract party received 15,298 votes, the “Victory” alliance came second with 10,051 votes, and the “Mother Armenia” party came third with 1,692 votes.

Notably, “Victory” is a coalition of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the centre-right Forward party, with the list headed by Sevak Khachatryan, who enjoyed full support from the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church—Catholicos Garegin personally appeared at the polling station. However, this support did not help: the victory went to Argishti Mekhakyan, representing the Civil Contract party.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has already commented on the matter in an address to the citizens of the country: "You have highly appreciated the work of the Civil Contract party in your community over the previous period and forgiven the mistakes that were made. By electing us, you have given an important boost to the process of liberating our holiest of holy sites, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, from Ktrich Nersisyan."

At the same time, Taron Chakhoyan, Deputy Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, also weighed in on the elections: "Justice has won in Vagharshapat. Victory over Ktrich, Kocharyan, Serzh, Tashir Samo, the Dashnaks, and their fake news. The people and democracy have won."

The Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Araik Harutyunyan, did not hide his joy, saying: "The opposition has been crushed in Etchmiadzin and will soon be crushed across the entire Republic of Armenia."

Meanwhile, Armenia’s Minister of Economy, Gevorg Papoyan, stated: "The Civil Contract party, led by Argishti Mekhakyan, delivers a crushing defeat to the supporters of Dashnaktsutyun, Robik, Serzh, Vanetsyan, the formalists, that man with the club, the newspapers Hraparak, Zhoghovurd, 168, and their entourage in Vagharshapat."

It must be acknowledged that the ruling party’s joy is justified, as they were up against financially very strong opponents who controlled numerous media outlets. Yet, as we can see, none of this helped them. The fiasco of the revanchists in general, and of the supporters of the current head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in particular, is an undeniable fact that may accelerate the process of replacing the Catholicos of All Armenians. Of course, Garegin II will continue to resist, but now, after the failure in Vagharshapat, it will be far harder for him to claim that he has public support.

Notably, Nikol Pashinyan sees the 2026 parliamentary elections as a good opportunity for the Armenian people to liberate the National Assembly from the corrupting influence of the revanchists and their allies through their vote.

"The citizens of Armenia accuse us of continuing to react to the statements of Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, and the forces they lead. The parliamentary elections will soon take place, and this is a good opportunity to ensure that these forces, led by these people, do not enter parliament. The time has truly come to solve this problem," the Armenian Prime Minister said in parliament during the discussion of the country’s budget for the next year.

Judging by the results of the Vagharshapat elections, this problem indeed looks set to be resolved.