Today, 7:04
Updated today, 11:53 AM
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party has won Sunday’s extraordinary parliamentary elections, according to preliminary voting results. The bloc, led by former President Robert Kocharian, which received the second largest number of votes, has said it will not recognize the outcome of the election.
Armenia’s Central Election Commission announced on Monday morning that election results from all 2008 polling stations had been compiled.
Meanwhile, political experts consider the election results to be a bit unexpected, and the low turnout is also surprising – only half of the population went to the polls.
Pashinyan’s Civic Treaty party won almost 54% of the voteUldis Ķezberis
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Preliminary results show that the Civic Treaty party, led by Prime Minister Pashinyan, won almost 54% of the vote, while the Armenia alliance, led by former President Robert Kocharian, received just over 21%. The force led by former President Sergei Sargsyan also overcame the 5% barrier to entering parliament. 25 lists started in the elections.
Slightly more than 49% of citizens with the right to vote took part in the elections, said the chairman of the election commission Tigran Mukuchyan.
Pashinyan announced shortly after midnight that the political force he was leading was an election winner. “The Armenian people have given the Civil Covenant Party a mandate to run the country, but I am personally entrusted with running the country as prime minister,” Pashinyan said.
He called the election results a “steel revolution”.
“Armenia has made its choice in this election. At the moment, the most important issue on our agenda is peace in our region and the development of our nation, “said Pašinjan.
The “Civic Pact” party alone will be able to form the next government, as it has won 71 seats in the 105-member parliament. That is 17 seats less than before.
Questions the credibility and intends to appeal
The alliance, led by former President Kocharyan, questions the credibility of the election results and intends to challenge them. The political force has stated that it has information on widespread election irregularities. The party will recognize the election results only after the responsible authorities have investigated all possible violations.
The Armenian Prosecutor’s Office had received at least 319 reports of alleged election irregularities by Sunday evening. The authority has initiated at least six criminal proceedings in connection with the purchase of voter votes.
“It simply came to our notice then. People voted. There have not been many fair elections in Armenia, but these were among them, “said Serob Kepikyan, a resident of Yerevan.
Former President Kocharyan was seen as an unofficial candidate backed by Armenia’s ally Russia, while Pashinyan spoke of moving closer to the European Union. Initially, Pashinyan even mentioned a possible withdrawal from Russian-led economic and military organizations, which was not realized later.
Pashinyan in late April announced his resignation and announced early parliamentary elections. This came after several months of protests against Armenian in Armenia. Protesters demanded his resignation because they were dissatisfied with the head of government’s decision to conclude a ceasefire with Azerbaijan to end hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last November.
Under an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Armenians lost about two-thirds of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which they controlled since the early 1990s. Many Armenians consider this behavior of Pasinyan to be a betrayal of the state.
Pashinyan came to power in 2018 after widespread anti-corruption protests in the country.
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