Armenia sets course towards West as Pashinyan secures election win

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed victory in parliamentary elections as voters overwhelmingly backed the South Caucasus country’s turn towards the West and away from Russia.

Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party got 49.81 per cent of the vote, putting it on course to hold 61 of the 105 seats, data from Armenia’s Central Election Commission showed on Monday. Turnout was 58.97 per cent.

Three opposition parties led by pro-Russian politicians passed the threshold to enter the National Assembly in Sunday’s vote. Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party gained 23.29 per cent, likely holding 28 seats, the Armenia Alliance led by ex-president Robert Kocharyan won 9.94 per cent for 11 seats and Prosperous Armenia headed by tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan got 4 per cent and five seats.

The result secures Pashinyan a third consecutive term, though not the parliamentary supermajority required to amend the constitution or call referendums. That could complicate his plans to pursue constitutional changes sought by Azerbaijan as part of a final peace agreement ending more than three decades of conflict over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and to advance Armenia’s long-term goal of integration with the European Union.

“It looks like now that Armenia’s people, although under heavy Russian pressure, still chose to have a European future,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters in Cyprus on Monday ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s defence ministers.

Opposition leaders alleged irregularities and challenged the legitimacy of the vote.