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Armenia's pro-Western government wins election despite Russian pressure

2026-06-08 18:08:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The party of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won crucial elections, which are seen as crucial in deciding whether the country will continue to move closer to the West.

Pashinyan's centrist Civil Contract party secured 49.8% of the vote, while the Strong Alliance of Armenia came in second with 23.2%. The Alliance of Armenia came in third with 9.9%.

Sunday's vote was the first general election since Armenia, a small South Caucasus country of three million people, suffered a devastating military defeat by Azerbaijan in 2023.

This was seen as a test of the prime minister's effort to deepen ties with the West while facing growing economic pressure from Russia, its largest trading partner and traditional ally.

Pashinyan, who has been in power since 2018, declared victory on Monday after early results showed his party had secured more than 50% of the vote.

"The Armenian people voted for peace, regional prosperity and cooperation," he said.

The election drew considerable international attention to the country. On Monday, France and the EU were among European powers to congratulate Pashinyan, praising Armenia's closer ties with the West.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying that "unprecedented pressure" has been exerted on opposition parties and that there has been "interference" from the West.

Zakharova also said that the elections had shown that Armenian society was "extremely polarized."

The success of the Civil Contract came despite domestic support for Pashinyan falling from 54% in 2021 to around 30% today, according to polls.

A total of 19 parties and alliances participated in the elections, but few of them won enough votes to win a seat in the national assembly. Voter turnout was 59%, the election commission said.

The conservative Prosperous Armenia Party, led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, came in fourth with 4% of the vote.

It, like the Strong Alliance of Armenia - led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, and the Alliance of Armenia - led by former president Robert Kocharyan, is pro-Russian.

"We will continue the path of rapprochement with the West, but we will also continue our participation and membership in the Eurasian Economic Union," Pashinyan also said on Monday.

In late May, the Russian president called on Armenia to hold a referendum “as soon as possible” on whether to join the EU or remain in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a customs bloc from which Armenia benefits.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin listed the economic benefits Armenia would lose if it pursued closer ties with the West — pointedly noting that “the crisis in Ukraine began with attempts to move towards EU membership.”

Russia supplies Armenia with gas at a price of $177.50 (£132.90) per 1,000 cubic meters, while European market prices, as Putin pointed out to Pashinyan in April, exceed $600.

In the two weeks before the elections, Moscow banned the export of Armenian flowers, mineral water, cognac, vegetables and fresh fruits.

Pashinyan's efforts to distance his country from Moscow include passing a law to launch the EU accession process and accelerating the peace process with neighboring Azerbaijan through a US-brokered deal. The latter has earned him the support of US President Donald Trump.

He also hosted a major summit of EU leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital, Yerevan, earlier this year.

Despite Pashinyan developing good relations with European leaders, Armenia does not yet have EU candidate status, and membership in the bloc is still a long way off.

His loss of popularity is largely due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave within Azerbaijan that was home to 100,000 ethnic Armenians until Azerbaijan forcibly annexed it in 2023.

Pashinyan's critics have never forgiven him for making concessions in favor of peace with Azerbaijan, such as refusing to campaign for the release of former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders who are in prison in the neighboring country.