Armenia PM wins majority in polls despite anger over war

YEREVAN: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday scored a decisive victory in snap parliamentary elections, bolstering his rule after months of discontent and protests following a historic military defeat to Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party swept to an easy victory with almost 54 per cent of the vote, overcoming anger at his handling of the devastating fight for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and securing a strong majority.

“The people of Armenia gave our Civil Contract party a mandate to lead the country and personally to me to lead the country as prime minister,” Pashinyan announced in the early hours of Monday.

The embattled prime minister announced the gamble of snap polls earlier in the year, when protests against his rule were coming to a head, and after Pashinyan claimed he had fended off a coup attempt from military leaders.

Protests against Pashinyan’s rule and calls from the opposition for him to stand down began in November last year when he signed an unpopular peace deal mediated by Moscow to end fighting with Armenia’s long-standing enemy Azerbaijan.The two countries fought a vicious six-week war last year which claimed some 6,500 lives.