Armenia’s parliamentary election campaign has entered its final stage ahead of voting on June 7, with a heated pre‑election debate exposing deep divisions over security, foreign policy, and the legitimacy of political rivals.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated his core campaign message around “peace” and “security,” maintaining that long-term stability for Armenia is tied to his re election. He has also, in the last few weeks mentioned that a war with Azerbaijan in September is a real possibility. For this reason, many believe that he is campaigning on a narrative of ‘false peace’, particularly in light of ongoing concerns and prior statements from ruling party figures suggesting that territorial concessions, including enclaves, could still be considered in negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Representing the Strong Armenia bloc, Narek Karapetyan, newphew of party figure Samvel Karapetyan, who remains under house arrest, challenged the Prime Minister directly. He argued that among the candidates on stage, 14 of the candidates were ‘Pro Armenian’ with 1 candidate being ‘Pro Azeri’ and that candidate was Nikol Pashinyan himself. The Strong Armenia Party, seen as the major challenger to Pashinyan, have strongly criticised the supposed ‘peace process’ and emphasised security and sovereignty first, with traditional allies like Russia.

Republican candidate Aram Sargsyan also aligned broadly with pro-government reform narratives and elections tactics by mentioning that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) should look at barring the participation of the 'Armenia Alliance' and the 'Strong Alliance' parties in the election. After being prompted by Nikol Pashinyan to submit a written request to the CEC, Sargsyan replied that the issue was beyond the CEC with Armenia’s independence and peace being under threat.

There are a few more days left to campaign with the elections to be held on Sunday the 7th of June with the legitimacy of the voting and counting of the election to be just as widely watched as the result itself.