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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared victory in Armenia's parliamentary elections Monday while fewer than a quarter of precincts had reported, as conflicting exit polls painted sharply different pictures of the outcome and opposition parties alleged widespread electoral violations.
With 23.5% of precincts reporting, Pashinyan's Civil Contract party held 52.5% of the vote against 23.2% for Strong Armenia, the alliance backed by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, according to the Central Election Commission. Two other opposition forces, former president Robert Kocharyan's Armenia alliance and the Prosperous Armenia party, also cleared the electoral threshold with 9.3 and 4.6% respectively. Turnout stood at 59%.
"Civil Contract has won and will form the government," Pashinyan told reporters, hailing what he called a "historic victory that will ensure Armenia's eternity and development." The declaration came as his own party's exit poll showed Civil Contract taking 56.7%, while an independent poll told a starkly different story, putting the party at 32.7% and the combined opposition ahead with roughly 53% of the vote.
The dueling figures underscored the depth of distrust surrounding a vote that Armenia's Investigative Committee said had already generated 59 criminal cases over alleged violations, including multiple voting, with nine people detained. Opposition parties accused authorities of broader repression, particularly against their campaign staff, allegations the government did not directly address.
Karapetyan, whose Strong Armenia alliance ran second in early official tallies, has been under house arrest since last year on coup-plotting charges he says are politically motivated. His party warned against what he called Pashinyan's "reckless rush" to the West, while denying it would pull Armenia back into Russia's orbit.
Pashinyan cast the election in existential terms throughout the campaign, warning voters that a weak majority for his party could lead Armenia into a "catastrophic war" with Azerbaijan within months. His opponents dismissed that as fear-mongering, accusing him of using security anxieties to consolidate power eight years after he came to office on a promise to dismantle Armenia's oligarchic system.
Moscow has likened Armenia's EU ambitions to the trajectory it claims triggered its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In the weeks before the vote, Russia banned the import of several Armenian products, a move widely seen as economic pressure on Yerevan.
Despite the tensions, Pashinyan insisted after casting his vote that Armenia would pursue a balanced foreign policy, saying "there is no question of choosing" between Russia and the West. U.S. President Donald Trump offered a more unambiguous signal, extending his "total endorsement for re-election" to "great friend and leader" Pashinyan, an unusual intervention in a parliamentary contest in a small Caucasus nation.
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