Nikol Pashinian’s ruling pro-European Armenian party has again won the parliamentary elections, international news agencies announced on Monday. Civic Contract defeated pro-Russian parties with 49.8 percent of the votes. The pro-Russian opposition party Strong Armenia received 23.3 percent of the votes.
Pashinian’s government is committed to long-term membership of the EU, or at least rapprochement. Most Armenians support this. Getting closer to Europe also means Armenia turning away from Russia, while it is currently still part of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russia has already threatened to expel the country from the EAEU.
Russia interfered in the elections, with fake news, import bans and an alleged plan to send ethnic Armenians from Russia to Armenia to vote against Pashinian. If Pashinian were to remain in power, Russia propagandized, Armenia could easily follow Ukraine. In other words, Russia would then be able to impose its will by force.
An important part of these elections was the lost enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was captured by Azerbaijan in 2023. At that time, Pashinian and his party were in power, and last year the Armenian government even officially recognized that the enclave is Azerbaijani territory, under pressure from the United States. The more than a hundred thousand refugees do not integrate well and are angry with Pashinian.
Also read
Will Armenia’s pro-European Prime Minister be re-elected? Moscow is doing everything it can to prevent that