Pashinyan declares victory in Armenia and sends message to Turkey

Initial results from the parliamentary elections held in Armenia show that the Civil Contract Party, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, is leading the race.

Pashinyan declared victory following the elections, in which 16 political parties and 2 alliances competed. According to data released by the Central Election Commission of Armenia, 22.32 percent of the results from 646 ballot boxes have been counted.

PASHINYAN LEADS IN INITIAL RESULTS

In the opened ballot boxes, the Civil Contract Party received 51.19 percent of the votes. The Strong Armenia movement, led by businessman Samvel Karapetyan, came in second with 23 percent of the vote, while the Armenia Alliance, led by former President Robert Kocharyan, placed third with 9.93 percent.

Speaking to journalists while the vote count was ongoing, Pashinyan stated that the election victory belonged to the Armenian people, saying, "I would like to express my gratitude to all my colleagues in our party. We worked day and night, and this is a victory of history. This victory is for the Armenian people."

MESSAGE TO TURKEY, EUROPE, AND RUSSIA

Touching upon the foreign policy agenda, Pashinyan stated that there has been a positive process in relations with Turkey recently, assessing that "We have captured a very good dynamic with Turkey. We need to maintain this dynamic to make the final breakthrough."

Pashinyan also stated that they would continue their policies of rapprochement with Europe, while noting that membership in the Eurasian Economic Union would continue and efforts to develop relations with Russia would also persist.

MESSAGE OF PEACE TO THE TURKISH AND AZERBAIJANI PEOPLES

Responding to the question, "What is your message to the Turkish people and the Azerbaijani people?" during the press conference, Pashinyan said, "This message is dedicated to peace, regional prosperity, and regional cooperation. And I hope that this will be met with positive reactions from both Turkey and Azerbaijan."

NOTABLE INCREASE IN TURNOUT

According to data from the Central Election Commission of Armenia, 58.97 percent of the approximately 2.5 million registered voters went to the polls. Thus, the turnout rate exceeded that of the last parliamentary elections held in 2021, which saw a 49.4 percent turnout.

Narek Karapetyan, a prominent figure in the Strong Armenia movement, one of the rival groups in the election race, argued that the high turnout would result against the government, claiming, "High turnout shows that Pashinyan has lost."

In Armenia's electoral system, an election threshold of 4 percent is applied for political parties and 8 percent for alliances. To form a government alone in the 101-seat parliament, at least 51 deputies must be elected.