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Armenians Vote In Snap Elections Triggered By War With Azerbaijan

By RFE/RL June 20, 2021

YEREVAN -- Polls have closed in snap parliamentary elections in Armenia, where tensions are running high following a political crisis fueled by the defeat of Armenian forces by Azerbaijan in a six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Early results are expected late on June 20, but the final results may not be known for days or even weeks. The Central Election Commission announced that voter turnout was 49.4 percent.

A total of 21 parties and four alliances took part in the vote. But polls showed the contest to be mainly a neck-and-neck race between acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's Civil Contract party and the newly created Armenia Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian, with each mustering about 24 percent support.

A voter in Yerevan told RFE/RL that he voted for peace and unity. "Be it Nikol [Pashinian], Robert [Kocharian] or anyone else, they should take care of the nation and raise it back to its feet," the man said.

Pashinian called the early elections in response to sustained opposition rallies and dissent within the state over his handling of the war that ended with a Moscow-brokered cease-fire in November.

Pashinian, who swept to power after leading large anti-establishment protests in 2018 that ousted his predecessor, has witnessed his approval fall from 60 percent before the war to about 24 percent.

Despite Pashinian's dwindling poll numbers, the former journalist has shown he can still draw thousands of supporters to rallies.

The fragile peace deal restored Baku's sovereignty over a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts that had been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces since a war in the early 1990s. The defeat stunned Armenians, and prompted months of recriminations and political infighting.

In response to charges that the cease-fire was a humiliating capitulation, Pashinian defended the deal, saying it prevented Turkish-backed Azerbaijani forces from taking control over the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region. He has also blamed previous administrations for wasting diplomatic opportunities and endemic corruption that left the military unprepared.

More than 6,000 people were killed in the autumn war and thousands of civilians displaced, while the Armenia-Azerbaijan border area remains tense and the long-term fate of the peace deal uncertain. The issue of prisoners of war and other detainees is a potent social issue as well.

Kocharian, a native of Nagorno-Karabakh, ran a campaign promising security, economic growth, and resolving political tensions.

"I voted for a dignified peace and economic growth, this is my choice," Kocharian told reporters after casting his ballot on June 20.

Asked about his electoral chances, he replied, "Do you doubt them"?

In addition to being president between 1998 and 2008, he was one of the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist forces during the early 1990s war and became the region's first de facto president between 1994 and 1997.

While president of Armenia, he was accused of acting unlawfully by sending police to disperse postelection protests in Yerevan in 2008. Eight demonstrators and two police officers died in the clashes.

Pashinian was one of the organizers of the 2008 protest and was ultimately jailed until being released in 2011 under a government amnesty.

Kocharian was later charged over the deadly crackdown on protesters and spent about a year and a half in pretrial detention. He was cleared of criminal charges earlier this year in a case the former president said was a politically motivated attack by Pashinian, but still faces a separate corruption probe.

During the 12-day election campaign, emotionally charged threats and insults raised concerns of postelection violence, especially in the event of allegations that the result is rigged or otherwise challenged. More than a dozen opposition candidates and activists were detained during the campaign, accused of bullying or bribing voters.

On the eve of the election, the largely ceremonial President Armen Sarkisian urged voters to remain peaceful, saying it would be unacceptable that "political and moral boundaries are crossed, that the situation escalates and hatred and enmity are fomented."

The outcome of the vote may hinge on which smaller parties clear a 5 percent threshold and which political alliances cross the required 7 percent hurdle to enter parliament.

If no party or alliance wins an outright majority, Pashinian or Kocharian will have six days to cobble together a coalition with smaller parties.

Failure to find a coalition leads to a runoff vote between the two top parties or alliances that determines the final distribution of seats under Armenia's so-called "stable majority" rule.

That provision automatically gives the winner of the runoff 54 percent of the legislature's seats. Remaining seats would be divided as mandated by the first-round results.

An independent observer said there had been allegations of vote buying and other illegal attempts to influence the vote.

Daniel Ioannisian told RFE/RL in an interview that most of the attempts concerned the Armenia Alliance, but he said there were some cases involving the I Have Honor Alliance and the Prosperous Armenia party. The cases have been forwarded to law enforcement bodies, he said.

With reporting by AP and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-election-2021- pashinian-kocharian-/31316732.html

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.