Pashinyan’s party falls short of 50%
Armenia’s Central Election Commission has announced the results of the parliamentary election after ballots were counted at all polling stations. According to the CEC, only three or possibly four political forces will enter the next parliament. Nikol Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract party fell just short of 50%.
Of the 16 parties and two electoral blocs that took part in the vote, only three have guaranteed seats so far: the ruling Civil Contract party with 49.81%, and the opposition blocs Strong Armenia with 23.29% and Armenia with 9.94%. The fate of another opposition party, Prosperous Armenia, remains uncertain. With the threshold set at 4%, the party received exactly 4% and is now waiting for the final confirmation of the results.
Possible seat distribution
According to a preliminary calculation by former Armenian justice minister Arpine Hovhannisyan, the 105-seat parliament may be distributed as follows:
- Civil Contract — 61 seats
- Strong Armenia — 28 seats
- Armenia — 11 seats
- Prosperous Armenia — 5 seats
If confirmed, the ruling party will retain a parliamentary majority, but the result is far from the triumphant mandate Pashinyan wanted.
Diaspora kept out of the vote
One important detail stands out. Unlike Moldova, Pashinyan banned voting for the diaspora. Polling stations were opened only inside Armenia.
The purpose of the move is easy to understand. It is the same logic used by other regimes when they fear the wrong voters. The largest Armenian diaspora lives in Russia, and it is strongly opposed to Pashinyan. In Moldova, the authorities work differently, but the aim is familiar: control the electoral map in a way that favours the ruling party.
Opposition alleges fraud
Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the opposition Strong Armenia bloc, has already declared that the election was held amid large-scale fraud.
“They counted 20% of the ballots and announced that they had already won, because they saw that they were falling very quickly. They stopped the count and said they would announce the results only at 9:00 in the morning. Of course, that is not how it works,” Karapetyan said.
Pashinyan threatens opposition leaders
After the election, Pashinyan also began threatening opposition leaders with mass repression.
“Robert Kocharyan will go to prison. Gagik Tsarukyan will go to prison. Samvel Karapetyan will go to prison,” Pashinyan said.
He added that the leaders of the main opposition forces “will dream of fleeing the country”, but will not be able to leave Armenia.
His most aggressive remarks were directed at his main rival, Samvel Karapetyan.
“Listen, you ‘Kaluga man’… the state will get stuck in your throat, and you will wheeze,” the increasingly unrestrained prime minister said.
The votes have been counted, but Armenia’s political crisis is clearly far from over.
