YEREVAN, June 8. /TASS/. 'Armenia,' the opposition bloc led by former president Robert Kocharyan, will contest the outcome of the latest parliamentary election and discuss its next steps with other opposition forces, its leader said.

"We will contest the results of the elections. At this point, we are discussing next steps with our colleagues from the opposition spectrum. Our approaches regarding further actions will be published once these discussions are over," Kocharyan said in a statement posted on Facebook (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

In his words, "one thing is for sure: we will not back down."

At the same time, the former president said the election process was held amid pressure from the authorities and was accompanied by arrests of opposition activists.

"The elections were held amid widespread pressure from the authorities, arrests of opposition figures, unprecedented misuse of the administrative resource and irregularities committed during the voting process," he said.

Earlier, another opposition figure - Samvel Karapetyan, who heads the Strong Armenia bloc - questioned the official Central Election Commission (CEC) figures, saying that they may not reflect the real picture. The Prosperous Armenia party of businessman Gagik Tsarukyan also said it would seek a recount of ballots, cast in its support.

According to the CEC, three political forces have made it into the country’s parliament following the June 7 vote. The ruling Civil Contract party of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received 49.825% of the vote. This will allow Pashinyan’s party to get a parliamentary majority and appoint the government and the premier. Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia got 23.281%, while Kocharyan’s bloc has 9.934%.

The parliamentary threshold is 4%. Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia has 3.996% of the vote, and a recount of votes may change the overall picture and allow it to pass.

The turnout was 58.97%.

Earlier, local observers and the opposition reported unprecedented electoral violations, including carousel voting. The electoral cycle was marred by arrests of opposition activists, which took place during the election campaign, the day of silence and the voting day.