Armenia PM Pashinyan's ruling party wins landslide election victory
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won Armenia's snap parliamentary election by a wide margin with roughly 56% of the vote. The outcome hands him a renewed mandate to accelerate Yerevan's pivot away from Russia and toward the European Union.
Armenia's Central Electoral Commission said early Monday that with 93% of ballots counted, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party led with 56.1%. The Armenia Alliance led by former president Robert Kocharyan had 18%, while the Hayastan bloc was on 9%. Civil Contract has therefore secured an outright parliamentary majority under the constitution.
Delivering a victory speech in Yerevan's Republic Square, Pashinyan said voters had "reaffirmed the choice for peace and modernisation." The government is expected to formally table its EU membership application in parliament next month; Yerevan is also poised to vote on a full withdrawal from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The European Commission described the result as a "democratic confirmation" and the EU enlargement commissioner is due in Yerevan next week. Moscow's reaction acknowledged the process had complied with Armenian law but said Yerevan's strategic re-orientation could affect regional stability and prompt a wider security review across the South Caucasus.
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