Armenia's election confirms decisive turn towards the West
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party has won the parliamentary election by a decisive margin. Despite Moscow's threats and claims of interference, Yerevan plans to accelerate steps towards EU candidacy.
Armenia's Central Electoral Commission said that with about 99% of ballots counted, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party had taken 51.6% of the vote. Turnout was 59%. The Armenia Alliance led by former president Robert Kocharyan came second with 18.9%, while the extra-parliamentary opposition bloc took 11.2%.
In his victory speech in Yerevan, Pashinyan said Armenia had "decided to accelerate along the path of EU accession negotiations". Brussels representative Maja Kocijancic announced that the European Commission would relaunch visa-liberalisation and expanded trade-cooperation talks with Yerevan. The Commission is set to publish its first assessment report in September.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the result as the outcome of "Western disinformation and foreign interference". European Council Secretary-General Antonio Costa said the result "clearly reflects the will of the people". Turkey's foreign ministry said the normalisation process would "continue constructively".
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