Asbed Bedrossian

Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections yielded Pashinyan’s third consecutive victory but triggered constitutional challenges from six opposition groups, mass arrests, and deepening geopolitical tensions with Russia.

Hovik Manucharyan and Asbed Bedrossian examine Armenia’s 2026 parliamentary election results, shifting Armenia-Georgia relations amid EU corridor initiatives, and a landmark US-Iran interim agreement that reshapes regional security architecture. Hrant Mikaelian examines the disputed aftermath of Armenia’s June 7, 2026 parliamentary election, discussing electoral fraud allegations, government threats against opposition parties, Armenia-Russia tensions, EU support for Armenian exports, and why political polling failed to predict the result.

We examine Pashinyan’s violent campaign rhetoric, the abuse of state resources ahead of Armenia’s June 7 election, selective law enforcement against the opposition, the worsening Armenia-Russia relationship, and the vandalism of an Armenian church in Javakhk. We survey all 17 parties and 2 alliances registered for Armenia’s June 7, 2026 parliamentary elections, walking through each participant’s leadership, polling numbers, platform, and geopolitical orientation. Political scientist Edgar Elbakyan joins the hosts to examine Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary  Read More

In this Week in Review, Hovik and Asbed discussed the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran and the danger of a wider regional catastrophe; we reflected on the tenth anniversary of the April 2016 Four-Day War and what it revealed about Armenia’s military and diplomatic posture; we examined the fallout from Pashinyan’s Moscow visit and the increasingly blunt Russian response, and reviewed the fast-moving Armenian election campaign, including pressure on the opposition, EU involvement, and the emerging strategies of major the various alliances.