Armenia opposition vows to fight PM in parliament and streets

YEREVAN: The Armenian leader's main rival on Tuesday did not rule out mobilising street protests after an election reaffirmed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's mandate despite a devastating war.

The alliance led by Pashinyan's main rival Robert Kocharyan, who led Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and is seen as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, came a distant second in early parliamentary polls on Sunday.

"We intend to continue our fight and it will be very strong," Kocharyan told a news conference in the capital Yerevan.

"Apart from our fight in parliament, there will also be a fight on the streets where we have a lot of supporters."

Pashinyan's Civil Contract party secured nearly 54 percent of Sunday's vote, just enough to form a government. Kocharyan's Armenia alliance received 21 percent of the vote.

A record 21 parties and four blocs ran for election but the vote was seen as a two-horse race between Pashinyan, 46, and Kocharyan, 66. Both drew massive crowds in the final days of the campaign.

Pashinyan claimed victory in the early hours of Monday, after first preliminary results were announced, and Kocharyan's bloc immediately alleged fraud.

Kocharyan on Tuesday reiterated that he would take his complaint to the Constitutional Court in the near future.

"Election results came as a surprise for us," he said, accusing the authorities of pressuring the military and state employees to vote for Pashinyan.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe praised the polls as "competitive and well-run."

On Tuesday, the EU said that "any complaints or appeals regarding the electoral process should be addressed thoroughly and expeditiously using the appropriate procedures as foreseen in the legal framework of Armenia."

Kocharyan was himself accused of rigging a presidential election in favour of an ally and presiding over a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2008.

Some analysts say Kocharyan may be hoping to contest the election results using his influence over the judiciary which was largely under former authorities' control when Pashinyan first came to power in 2018.

Throughout his first two years in office, Pashinyan struggled to get rid of politically-influenced judges who were blocking his anti-graft drive.

Pashinyan announced snap polls earlier this year in an effort to defuse a political crisis following a humiliating defeat in a war with Azerbaijan last year.