Russia or the West? Armenia begins crucial parliamentary elections
Photo: a woman holding the Armenian flag in Yerevan (Getty Images)
A nationwide vote has begun in Armenia in the parliamentary elections. The new composition of the National Assembly will determine the country's future direction, according to News.am.
Armenian citizens present in the country can vote until 20:00 local time. At the same time, no voting is taking place abroad.
The Central Election Commission of Armenia will begin publishing voter turnout data starting at midday. The information will be updated every three hours with a certain delay.
The first election results are expected to start coming in around 23:00 local time from small and remote polling stations. However, they will not provide a clear overall picture of the vote.
A clearer distribution of power in the new parliament is expected after results from major cities are received, primarily from Yerevan, where about one-third of the country’s voters live. According to local observers, this may happen around 02:00–03:00 at night.
Online vote counting is expected to be completed by Monday morning.
Armenia's parliament is elected under a proportional system, based solely on party lists. Sixteen parties and two political blocs are competing for seats in the new National Assembly.
The electoral threshold is 4% for parties and 8% for blocs. Only valid ballots will be counted in the final calculation, while invalid votes will not affect the distribution of percentages among participants.
Westward course or return to Russia
According to Bloomberg, these elections in Armenia are considered by many politicians and experts to be decisive for the country's future foreign policy direction. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has been in power since 2018, advocates deeper cooperation with the EU and the United States and a gradual reduction of dependence on Russia.
Pashinyan's Civil Contract party is competing, among others, with the Strong Armenia bloc of businessman Samvel Karapetyan and the Armenian Alliance of former president Robert Kocharyan.
Ahead of the vote, a scandal erupted in Armenia involving one of the election frontrunners — the opposition Strong Armenia bloc led by Armenian-Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan. The pro-European Republic party demanded that the bloc be removed from the election over allegations of possible voter bribery.
However, the Central Election Commission of Armenia unanimously rejected the request, stating that there were insufficient grounds for disqualification. As a result, Strong Armenia retained the right to participate in the parliamentary elections held on June 7.
