Armenia's pro-Western PM wins re-election with 49.8%, vows to continue pivot from Moscow despite Russian disinformation campaign

Decisive victory for the ruling party

Armenia's Central Election Commission confirmed on Monday that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won the June 7 parliamentary election with 49.81 percent of the vote, securing 61 seats in the 105-member National Assembly. The Strong Armenia alliance, led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, placed second with 23.29 percent, while the Armenia Bloc of former president Robert Kocharyan took 9.94 percent. The Prosperous Armenia party also entered parliament with 4 percent. Turnout reached 58.97 percent, with nearly 1.5 million of the country's 2.5 million eligible voters casting ballots.

This is a historic victory. This means that the citizens of Armenia have sided with the state, independence, the future and peace.

Pashinyan declared victory on election night while only partial results were available, drawing criticism from rivals who accused him of attempting to pressure the Central Election Commission. The result gives Civil Contract a comfortable single-party majority but falls short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to initiate constitutional amendments, a key demand from Azerbaijan for finalising the peace process.

A geopolitical pivot away from Moscow

The election was widely seen as a referendum on Pashinyan's pro-Western foreign policy and his efforts to reduce Armenia's dependence on Russia, its traditional security guarantor. The relationship fractured after Azerbaijan's 2023 military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh, when Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the region did not intervene to prevent Armenia's defeat. Yerevan has since suspended its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), forced the withdrawal of some Russian forces, and ratified the Rome Statute, obliging it to arrest Vladimir Putin should he visit.

It seems that despite strong pressure from Russia, people are still choosing a European future, which is a good thing.

All three opposition parties that entered parliament advocate closer ties with Moscow and criticise Pashinyan for making concessions to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan referred to them during the campaign as a "three-headed war party" and a "criminal-oligarchic group," vowing that their leaders would face trial and imprisonment.

Russian interference and electoral tensions

The campaign unfolded in a highly polarised atmosphere. Western intelligence sources cited by Reuters reported that Moscow conducted a mass disinformation campaign against Pashinyan via social media and pro-Russian outlets. Armenian authorities arrested dozens of people, including individuals linked to opposition parties, on suspicion of vote-buying and other electoral offences. The Investigative Committee opened 59 criminal cases and detained nine people by the time polls closed, while the interior ministry reported dozens of violations and 18 detentions. Opposition figures described the arrests as political repression.

International reactions and next steps

France and the European Union congratulated Pashinyan, who also had pre-election backing from the United States. The prime minister stated he would continue Armenia's course of rapprochement with the West while maintaining membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. He expressed hope that the results would be received positively by Turkey and Azerbaijan, referencing the need to consolidate peace after the Karabakh conflict. Pashinyan, in power since 2018, is now set to become the longest-serving prime minister in Armenia's history.