Yerevan-Sana
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared victory in the early legislative elections that took place in the country yesterday, after his party came to the fore, according to partial results.
"We know that we have achieved a convincing victory in the elections and that we will have a convincing majority in parliament ... We have given the people a mandate and we must use it immediately," Pashinyan was quoted by AFP as saying in a speech broadcast live on his Facebook page today.
He added, "The Armenian people gave the mandate to our party to rule the country, and it was me personally to lead it as head of government."
Pashinyan (Civil Contract) party, according to partial results published by the Central Election Commission of Armenia, won 57.1 percent of the vote, compared to 19.3 percent for the party of its rival, former President Robert Kocharyan (Armenia Bloc), after the votes were counted in 61 percent of polling stations.
For its part, Kocharian's party declared its objection to these results, indicating that it will not recognize them until the violations committed are considered.
Pashinyan had called for early legislative elections in the country to defuse a political crisis sparked by the war that erupted in the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Azerbaijan last autumn and lasted for six weeks and ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement under Russian supervision.