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Russia hopes for strengthening relations with Armenia after parliamentary polls — diplomat

Maria Zakharova stressed that Ilhom Nematov, head of the CIS monitoring mission, noted that elections in Armenia had been held in full compliance with law, with no serious violations capable of impacting the voting outcome being registered

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia hopes the results of Armenia’s early parliamentary elections will encourage the country’s development, promote stability and security in the South Caucasus and help strengthen relations with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday. 

"We hope that the results of the electoral process after their legislative processing will encourage Armenia’s development, further strengthening of Russian-Armenian ties, and will promote peace, security and stability in the entire South Caucasian region, first of all, in terms of complete implementation of the trilateral statements by the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders of November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021," she said.

She stressed that Ilhom Nematov, head of the CIS monitoring mission, noted that elections in Armenia had been held in full compliance with law, with no serious violations capable of impacting the voting outcome being registered. "Similar assessments came from the monitoring missions from the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), OSCE ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," she added.

Armenia held early parliamentary elections on Sunday. According to the Central Election Commission, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won 53.92% of the vote. Kocharyan’s Armenia bloc scored 21.04% of votes and the I Have Honor bloc led by another former President Serzh Sargsyan won 5.23% of votes. The voter turnout was 49.4%

Head of Armenia’s Central Election Commission Tigran Mukuchyan explained that Pashinyan had won enough votes to form a government of his own as a political force that won at least 54% of seats can form a government while 53.92% was the number of votes his party had scored. His party will have more seats in the parliament from among the votes won by other parties that failed to surpass the threshold, which is five percent for political parties and seven percent for blocs.