Armenian opposition party files petition to annul June election results
Armenian opposition party files petition to annul June election results
ReutersFri, June 12, 2026 at 8:24 AM UTC
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FILE PHOTO: A voter holds a ballot at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Yerevan, Armenia, June 7, 2026. Vahram Baghdasaryan/Photolure via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY./File Photo
June 12 (Reuters) - A pro-Russian opposition alliance filed a request to Armenia's election commission on Friday to throw out the results of last Sunday's parliamentary election, won by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's governing party.
The petition was submitted by Strong Armenia, party member Aram Vardevanyan told reporters in the capital Yerevan, after opposition groups alleged there had been voting irregularities.
Strong Armenia clinched 23.2% of votes in the June 7 vote, running on a pro-business ticket and a pledge to keep Armenia's traditionally close ties to Russia, from which the South Caucasus country buys much of its energy.
Pashinyan's Civil Contract party, which has bolstered ties with Western countries since coming to power in 2018, won 49.8% of votes to see off the challenge of mostly pro-Russian opposition groups.
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The Central Election Commission is expected to publish the final results on Sunday. It declared the tallies at two polling stations invalid on Thursday, citing a concentration of military personnel at voting sites after polls closed, according to Armenian media reports.
This reduced the vote share for another opposition party, Prosperous Armenia, which put them below the 4% threshold needed to get into parliament, the party's leader said.
Opposition groups complained of a spate of arrests before the vote that targeted their parliamentary candidates and supporters.
A group of international electoral observers, while noting the allegations of vote-buying and other electoral violations, said voting had gone smoothly in most polling stations.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Source: “AOL Breaking”
