Armenia's polls test the prime minister's pivot away from Russia
Armenia votes Sunday in a parliamentary election that pits Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party — which is loosening dependence on Moscow and pushing closer to the EU — against the party of Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan. France 24 reports that the Kremlin has been accused of trying to sway the vote and undermine Armenia's EU ambitions.
France 24 reports from Yerevan that Prime Minister Pashinyan's Civil Contract party is campaigning on advancing the EU candidacy process and updating the Association Agreement with Brussels. The opposition alliance led by Samvel Karapetyan is running on preserving and deepening security cooperation with Russia; polls in the final week put the alliance at 28-32% support.
An election-monitoring spokesperson told reporters that 28 polling stations in eastern and southern Yerevan reported fake-ballot warnings when they opened; OSCE observers logged no irregularities in routine daytime operations. The Russian Foreign Ministry, asked about the campaign, described the Yerevan trajectory as an "artificial rapprochement with the EU."
Analytical sources cited by France 24 said a Pashinyan win would accelerate the EU visa-liberalisation dialogue and could see the EU Readmission Agreement initialled by September. A Karapetyan-alliance win would strengthen the Russia–Iran–India triangle and diaspora-driven financing flows. The Armenian dram has weakened 2.1% against the dollar over the past month on election-security uncertainty.
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