The snap parliamentary elections in Armenia had a clear result with Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party winning by a majority with nearly 54% of the votes. Experts assessed this election as incredibly competitive and highly unpredictable, and that such a clear result indicates that voters chose to continue the democratic reforms kickstarted after the 2018 revolution.
Observers reported that Election Day was peaceful and allowed Armenian citizens to make a democratic choice. Violations were not of a significant nature. However, the electoral runner-up, Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia Alliance, was reported to have carried out significantly more violations than other parties in the race.
Now that these elections are over, we should look towards the upcoming local elections in the autumn. These will be held using several voting systems: communities with less than 4000 registered voters will directly elect their mayor and city council using a majoritarian system, communities with more than 4000 registered voters will move to a proportional list system, with the city council appointing the mayor. Observers criticize this for being an overly complicated system that may confuse voters.
In a recent public discussion hosted by EPDE, experts reflected on lessons learned from the snap elections, what these could mean for upcoming elections, and what the next steps in the reform process should be and how the international community should support these steps. A summary and a recording of the discussion are available here.
Preliminary reports and statements by EPDE’s member organizations on the conduct of these elections can be found on the websites of Transparency International Anticorruption Center and the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor. These as well as summaries of expert round tables and public discussions conducted throughout the election period can be found on EPDE’s website here.
