Armenians voted in a parliamentary election on Sunday in Yerevan as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government sought to loosen ties with Moscow and deepen cooperation with the West.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his governing Civil Contract party are looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course for Armenia, while the opposition includes some parties that are vocally pro-Russia.
Casting his vote on Sunday, Pashinyan said that the country would continue strengthening its "independence, statehood, democracy and rule of law." "The European Union is our main partner in democratic reform implementation, and we will continue that path," he said, and he added that "our relations with Russia are institutional and based on mutual respect," the Armenpress news agency reported.
Russian officials have hit Armenian exports with a barrage of restrictions in recent weeks, and President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia's path to that already taken by Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.
Armenian investigators said they issued six arrest warrants for members of the opposition Strong Armenia party the day before the election, accusing them of buying votes, and the nation's Central Election Committee confirmed Saturday that the party could run after a member of another opposition party, Republic, appealed for Strong Armenia to be barred over corruption allegations.
Strong Armenia's leader, Russian Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is under house arrest for allegedly advocating for the government's overthrow and has rejected the charge as politically motivated, said the arrests "would not change the minds of Armenian voters." Karapetyan was escorted to a polling station where he spoke briefly to the media before returning home and said, "The Armenian people will make the right choice and Armenia will finally have a legitimate government."
Armenia's National Assembly must consist of at least 101 members who are elected for five-year terms; parties must win at least 4% of the vote to take a seat, while blocs made up of three or more parties must hit 8%. Two political blocs and 17 parties are taking part in the election, and most pollsters and experts have predicted that Pashinyan will come out ahead.
Unlike the Civil Contract party, most of Armenia's opposition supports building stronger relations with Moscow. The Strong Armenia party seeks to develop business ties with Russia and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to start a war with Moscow, while other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and has also accused Pashinyan of undermining relations with Russia, and the Prosperous Armenia Party led by business owner Gagik Tsarukyan.
The opposition parties have strongly criticized Pashinyan for attempting to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan; Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a document on moving toward a peace deal at the White House alongside U.S. President Donald Trump in August.
Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in a decades-long conflict over the fate of Karabakh, a breakaway region that had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, and Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region during a rapid offensive in 2023.
At a rally on Thursday, Sahakyan Elina, a supporter of the Prosperous Armenia Party, said, "I want this government to change, because the condition of our country is getting worse." The European Commission described Moscow's export restrictions as "nothing short of economic coercion," saying in a statement, "By extending export restrictions on Armenian products, Moscow is weaponizing economic relations for political pressure." Moscow also controls a significant portion of Armenia's energy and infrastructure and supplies it with cheap gas, and Putin said, "Being in a customs union with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is impossible by definition."