Armenia's My Step Alliance led by acting prime minister Nikol Pashinyan won the country's snap parliamentary election held on Dec. 9, winning 70.43 percent of the votes, according to the Central Election Commission on Monday.

With 100 percent of the votes counted, the ruling Republican Party of ex-president Serzh Sargsyan only achieved 4.70 percent, failing to exceed the 5 percent threshold necessary to enter parliament. </s> YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia’s acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is on his way to bolstering his authority as his political bloc appeared to have taken a clear lead in elections in the ex-Soviet country on Sunday, the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) preliminary results showed.

My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party, won over 70 percent of the vote based on results from more than 50 percent of the polling stations, the CEC said on its website.

Results showed that two moderate opposition parties got enough votes to enter parliament as they had cleared the 5 percent threshold. </s> YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Preliminary results in Armenia's snap parliamentary election show the electoral bloc of the country's new leader winning an overwhelming majority.

A preliminary count from all precincts posted on the website of the Armenian Central Election Commission on Monday show Nikol Pashinian's My Step bloc with more than 70 percent of the vote.

A 43-year-old former journalist, Pashinian took over as prime minister in May after spearheading massive protests that forced his predecessor to step down. He had pushed for an early parliamentary election to win control of the chamber that was dominated by his political foes.

The former ruling Republican Party was shown polling less than 5 percent, which means it will be unlikely to make it into parliament.

The results have yet to be officially announced. </s> Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance won the country's snap parliamentary election with over 70 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said Monday after 100 percent of ballots were counted.

"The My Step bloc received 884,400 votes which accounts for 70.45 percent. The Prosperous Armenia party is second with 8.37 percent of the vote (103,800). The Bright Armenia party is third with 6.37 percent of the vote (just over 80,000)," the commission said in a statement on its website, having counted ballots from all 2,010 polling stations.

Meanwhile, Armenia's former ruling Republican Party for the first time failed to cross the 5-percent threshold to get into the country's parliament, having ensured only 4.7 percent of the vote. The Republican Party had seats in all successive parliaments from 1995 until now.

The Armenian police have received 144 reports of suspected irregularities during the Sunday snap parliamentary elections, the chief of the inspection department of the country’s police said.

READ MORE: Pashinyan Invites Renowned US Economist to Restore Armenia’s Economy

“On the election day, the police have registered 144 reports, including 58 of them reporting offenses and 86 others not containing obvious indications of crime, but which are subject to verification,” Col. Ashot Sargsyan said at the Central Electoral Commission (CEC)’s briefing.

On November 1, the country's president signed a decree to dissolve the parliament after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is seeking to refresh Armenia's political system, resigned in late October in order to give a formal reason for the dissolution of the parliament and thus force early elections.

READ MORE: Kremlin Hopes Alliance With Armenia Remains Principle for Both Countries </s> Acting Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s bloc ‘My Step’ has won 70.4 percent of the vote based on results from all polling stations, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on its website. The ‘My Step’ alliance includes Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party. The Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Renaissance parties have entered the parliament, scoring 8.27 percent and 6.37 percent of the vote respectively, TASS reports. The Republican Party of Armenia, the former leading party, failed to surpass the five percent mark, scoring just 4.7 percent of the vote. The Dashnakthutyun faction received 3.89 percent of votes. Other parties involved in the parliamentary election received less than two percent of the vote. Voter turnout at the early parliamentary polls on Sunday was 48.63 percent, according to the CEC. Turnout for previous parliamentary elections was 60.84 percent. </s> Armenia's acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is on his way to bolstering his authority as his political bloc appeared to have taken a clear lead in elections in the ex-Soviet country on Sunday, the Central Election Commission's (CEC) preliminary results showed.

YEREVAN: Armenia's acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is on his way to bolstering his authority as his political bloc appeared to have taken a clear lead in elections in the ex-Soviet country on Sunday, the Central Election Commission's (CEC) preliminary results showed.

My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party, won over 70 percent of the vote based on results from more than 50 percent of the polling stations, the CEC said on its website.

Results showed that two moderate opposition parties got enough votes to enter parliament as they had cleared the 5 percent threshold. </s> YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Soon after the preliminary vote count results of the general election of Armenia were released by the country’s Central Electoral Commission, news media from around the world shifted their spotlight on Armenia.

“Armenia’s acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has bolstered his authority after his political bloc won early parliamentary elections,” the Guardian said.

“Armenian citizens created a revolutionary majority at the parliament,” the British daily newspaper quoted Pashinyan as saying at his bloc’s HQ after the first results were published.

Sputnik News noted that the Republican Party of Armenia, the former ruling party, for the first time failed to cross the 5-percent threshold to get into the country's parliament, garnering only 4.7 percent of the vote.

“Acting Armenian PM's bloc easily wins parliamentary vote”, Reuters reported.

“Armenia's acting PM Nikol Pashinyan wins by landslide”, said Euronews, referring to the overwhelming 70,43% of votes garnered by My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party.

Nearly 40 foreign news media have accredited at the foreign ministry to cover the general election.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said earlier on Facebook the foreign news outlets have accredited more than 80 journalists.

"After the elections, we will be developing Armenian democracy and make an economic revolution happen," France24 quoted Pashinyan telling reporters after casting his ballot on December 9 in Yerevan.

“Armenians appeared to overwhelmingly back protest leader and current acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in early parliamentary elections on Sunday”, reported the German Deutsche Welle.

The newspaper notes that the former ruling party “suffered a massive defeat and came in at just over 4 percent, according to the early results. “

The Turkish press also covered the election, with TRT World quoting Pashinyan as saying : "An economic revolution is our top priority," after voting.

Iran’s PressTV noted Pashinyan’s “landslide victory”, that enabled the premier to “consolidate his authority months after he rose to power”.

The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia has released the preliminary results from all 2010 polling stations in the country of the general election vote.

According to the CEC, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance has won a landslide victory with 70,43 % - with 884,456 votes.

The Republican Party of Armenia garnered only 4,70% - 59,059 votes.

Citizens Decision Social-Democratic Party received 0,68%, with 8530 votes.

Bargavatch Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia) Party received 8,27%, with 103,824 votes.

The ARF, or the Dashnaktsutyun, garnered 3,89% with 48,811 votes.

Lusavor Hayastan (Luminous Armenia) Party got 6,37% - 80,024 votes.

2619 voters (0,50%) cast ballots for the Christian-People’s Rebirth Party.

The National Progress Party and the Menk (We) Alliance garnered 0,51% (6456 votes) and 2,00% (25,174) respectively.

Orinats Yerkir Party (Rule of Law) garnered 0,99% with 12,389 votes, and the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party got 1,82% with 22,862 votes.

According to preliminary information the turnout was 48.63%.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan </s> Armenia's parliament on Tuesday elected the until-now leader of the opposition as the country's new prime minister, two weeks after massive anti-government protests led to his predecessor's resignation.

Nikol Pashinyan, who leads the liberal Yelk ("Way Out") coalition, received 59 votes from his fellow lawmakers in the National Assembly, six more than the minimum needed to become head of government. </s> Armenians are casting their votes in early parliamentary elections Sunday.

Reformist leader Nikol Pashinian, 43, swept to power in May after weeks of anti-government protests that forced the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who was also a former president of Armenia.

Sargsyan’s ruling Republican Party, however, blocked Pashinian’s bid to become prime minister, resulting in more protests. The Republican Party then decided to back Pashinian for what it said was the good of the nation.

Armenia



Pashinian became prime minister, but recently stepped down so parliament could be dissolved for the early election. He remains Armenia’s acting prime minister.

Analysts expect him to be re-instated in office, with his My Step alliance in control of parliament.

Pashinian, a former newspaper editor who had been imprisoned for his activism, has promised to maintain close ties with Russia and fight corruption. He has also pledged to “step up cooperation with the United States and European Union.”
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's My Step Alliance bloc wins 70.4% of the vote.