Armenia: Nikol Pashinyan claims victory in short elections | Election Issues

Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, has won a parliamentary election called to address the country’s political crisis after a bitter war with Azerbaijan.

75% of the results announced, Pashinyan Civil Contract Party had 55.61% of votes on Monday. The coalition to elect its main enemy, former President Robert Kocharyan, had 20% of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Voters accounted for about 50 percent, while 2.6 million people were eligible to vote.

“The Armenian people have given our party, Civil Contract, the responsibility of leading the country and me as the Prime Minister,” Pashinyan said on Monday.

“We already know that we have won a decisive election and we will have more people in parliament,” he added.

The Kocharyan Bloc, however, questioned the credibility of the original results and said it did not approve of Pashinyan’s swift efforts to win, which happened when only 30% of those constituencies were counted.

“Hundreds of posters from polling stations testifying to the false allegations have been fabricated and act as a major reason for disbelief,” the bloc said in a statement, adding that it would not “notice” the results until the “breach” was investigated.

Earlier in the day, Sunday evening, the prosecutor’s office said it had received 319 criminal reports. He said he had opened six criminal cases, all of which involved bribery during the campaign.

The election is being monitored by experts from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), who recently reviewed voting that is fair and free. He will deliver a full ruling on Monday.

Prior to the election, the two parties were embroiled in controversy. And while there were four party elections and 21 parties contesting the election, only a few are expected to win seats in parliament.

A six-day war

Pashinyan called for a general election to try to resolve the political crisis in Armenia’s six-week-long defeat by Azerbaijan and seize control of Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 6,500 people have been killed in the conflict, according to the latest figures in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Since then, Pashinyan has been under pressure, with protests demanding the resignation of a peace treaty that has ended the conflict. The treaty, which Russia violated, Azerbaijan regained control of the region that had been lost in the early 1990’s.

In Moscow’s view, Pashinyan is confident that the alliance will remain stable. This includes the suspension of about 2,000 Russian military personnel in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Arsen Kharatyan, a former Pashinyan adviser, told Al Jazeera that the results provided an opportunity for the prime minister to establish a state of “political instability”.

“Now how do you solve the problems Armenia is facing? On a larger scale, the security structures in the region have not changed much since the war. Russia remains a major player in all of this. As a result, every incumbent should fight Moscow openly, “Kharatyan said, adding that Sunday’s vote no longer shows that any party involved in the” pro-Western agenda has received enough votes “.

Armenia, which has a Russian military base, is closely allied with Moscow, although the Pashinyans, who took power behind the street protests and anti-corruption measures in 2018, have been in a relationship with the Kremlin.

Turkey, which supported Azerbaijan in the last war, is also monitoring the elections carefully.

Controversial opinion

In the streets of Yerevan on Sunday, the Armenian people reiterated the Pashinyan protests.

Voter Anahit Sargsyan said the Prime Minister, who has led peace protests against fraud in 2018, deserves another chance.

He also said he feared the return of an old guard who was accused of taking over the country.

“I voted to go back to the old ways,” said the 63-year-old former teacher.

Armenian woman throws her ballot box in front of a parliamentary by-election – summoned after defeat last year in a battle with Nagorno-Karabakh – in Yerevan, Armenia, Sunday, June 20, 2021 [Sergei Grits/AP Photo]

Another voter, Vardan Hovhannisyan, said he had voted for Kocharyan, who calls himself Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ally.

“I voted for security borders, collective bargaining, the return of our prisoners of war, the health of the wounded and the mighty army,” said the 41-year-old singer.

Kocharyan, from Karabakh, has accused Armenian leaders of not doing anything in last year’s war, and has promised to hold talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh border if they come to power.

Kocharyan was President of Armenia from 1998 to 2008 and was accused of committing illegal acts when he launched an emergency operation in March 2008 following a disputed election.

At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters.