Elections in Armenia: Pashinyan declares victory for his party (updated)
Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the ruling Civic Contract party and Prime Minister of Armenia, has declared his party’s victory in the elections and claimed the right to form a new government even before the official vote count has been completed.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by "Radio Liberty".
According to Pashinyan, the party has its own representatives at all polling stations and is receiving copies of the protocols, which allows for a parallel count of the results.
"This is a historic victory that will undoubtedly ensure the stability and development of the Republic of Armenia," he said, emphasising his readiness to ensure political and institutional stability in the country.
At the same time, when asked by journalists whether such conclusions were premature, the Prime Minister replied that his team was relying specifically on its own data from polling stations.
Preliminary results: the ruling party is in the lead
According to the Central Election Commission of Armenia, as of 05:00 Kyiv time, results had been counted at 1,272 out of 2,005 polling stations.
Preliminary:
- the "Civic Contract" party is gaining almost 51% of the vote;
- the pro-Russian opposition force "Strong Armenia" is receiving 23.22%;
- the "Armenia" party is in third place with 9.56%.
The final election results have not yet been announced, as vote counting continues across the country.
As of 8:30 a.m., the Central Election Commission of Armenia had counted more than 95% of the votes.
According to the results, Pashinyan’s party secured a decisive victory:
- "Civic Contract" – 50.04%;
- "Strong Armenia" – 23.33%;
- "Armenia" Bloc – 9.85%;
- "Prosperous Armenia" – 3.98%.
Statements by other politicians
Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, in a statement published overnight, called these elections shameful.
"You have all seen over the past month the persecution we have suffered, the violence we have endured. Around 75 of us, our team-mates, are currently under arrest; over 700 people have been arrested, and these people, without even taking a break, decided to engage in inexplicable activities on election day. There has never been a case in world history where they interrupted the vote count and said: ‘We will announce the results at 9 am,’" announced the Russian businessman, who is currently under house arrest.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a parliamentary candidate for the opposition ‘Armenia’ bloc and a representative of the Supreme Body of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) of Armenia, claims that Nikol Pashinyan’s statements regarding the victory of the "Civic Contract" before the election results have been finalised "are simply steps to put pressure on the Central Election Commission and usurp power".
"Before you are elected, before you issue instructions to the judicial system, you will still have to answer for all the election violations recorded today.
... At the moment, we are busy processing data received from polling stations. Let me remind you that the Central Election Commission has so far tallied the results from a quarter of polling stations. We will discuss the final results and what to do once the data has been tallied," Saghatelyan wrote on Facebook.
The candidate for prime minister from the "Wings of Unity" party, former ombudsman Arman Tatoyan, in turn, wrote on Facebook:
"Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that the Communist Party of Armenia is forming the government on its own and has won the election is unconstitutional and exceeds the powers of the prime minister. The head of government has no authority to make a statement and declare his sole victory when just over 10 per cent of the votes have been counted, and when not even 10 per cent of the votes have been counted in Yerevan."
We consider this statement by Nikol Pashinyan to be a clear case of unlawful interference with the Central Election Commission with the aim of influencing the election results, which is a criminal offence."
Edmon Marukyan, leader of the Bright Armenia party and candidate for the post of prime minister, also points out that Pashinyan made the statement when around 10 per cent of the votes had been counted.
"Let’s wait and see what the major alliances have to say," Marukyan states in a video posted on social media.
"There is no data, yet the man says: ‘I have won’. This is a violation of all electoral laws, every single one," asserts the leader of "Bright Armenia".
