Pro-Russian opposition candidates arrested in Armenia a day before elections

Armenian authorities arrested six candidates from a pro-Russian opposition party today, the day before parliamentary elections, state media reported, without giving reasons for the arrests.

These are the candidates of the "Strong Armenia" party, led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan. He is under house arrest on charges of calling for the overthrow of the government, which he denies as politically motivated.

Armenia's relations with its traditional patron Russia are one of the key election issues.

Moscow has restricted exports from Armenia in recent weeks in response to Yerevan's warming relations with the West.

About 2,4 million Armenians are eligible to vote in tomorrow's elections, which are also seen as a test of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's efforts to achieve peace with long-time adversary Azerbaijan.

Public opinion polls show that "Strong Armenia" has the support of between six and 11 percent of voters, which puts it in second place, behind Pashinyan's ruling Civil Contract party, which has a significant advantage with support of 24 to 32 percent.

Armenian civil society organizations have expressed concern about what they say is a disinformation campaign sponsored by Russia ahead of the election. Moscow routinely denies interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

The state-run Armenpress news agency said the Central Election Commission had allowed investigative bodies to initiate criminal proceedings against six candidates, without providing details.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia, which carried out the arrests, did not respond to questions about the reasons.

There was no reaction from the "Strong Armenia" party either. The party advocates preserving Yerevan's economic and political ties with Russia and accused Pashinyan of inciting conflict with Moscow.

Armenia's Interior Ministry said this week that it had identified 78 cases of election-related crimes and that 44 people had been detained, Armenian media reported.

The reports did not state which political parties the detained persons belonged to.

Pressure on the "Strong Armenia" party was increasing ahead of the vote.

At an extraordinary session late last night, the Central Election Commission rejected a request from another opposition party to ban the "Strong Armenia" party from participating in the elections because it bribes voters and illegally finances its campaign.

The Strong Armenia party rejected the accusation, and Armenian media quoted a party spokeswoman as saying that the group was "ready for all scenarios" tomorrow, Reuters reported.