Armenia election: PM Nikol Pashiyan scores revolutionary majority

Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won a convincing victory in Sunday's snap parliamentary election, consolidating his authority.

His bloc won more than 70% of the vote, the country's election commission said.

Final official results show that the centrist My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party, won 70.4% of the vote.

Its nearest rival, the moderate Prosperous Armenia party won just over 8%. Led by tycoon and arm-wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukyan, it was part of the ruling coalition in the outgoing parliament.

Bright Armenia, a liberal pro-Western party, won about 6% of the vote, the commission said.

Each party needed at least 5% of the vote to enter the 101-seat National Assembly.

Armenia's constitution states that 30% of seats in parliament must go to opposition parties.

A journalist turned politician, Pashinyan spearheaded a peaceful revolution in April.

He stepped down in October so parliament could be dissolved ready for the early election but remained the acting prime minister.

“Armenian citizens created a revolutionary majority at the parliament,” Pashinyan told reporters at his bloc’s headquarters after first results were published.

“If this trend continues, the majority won’t face any problems in implementing legislative changes,” he said.

He now has a parliamentary majority to push through his programme of tackling corruption and reforming the economy. Poll turnout was low, at about 49%.

Historically, Armenia's elections have been marred by fraud and vote-buying - but correspondents said there was hope that this one would be different.

International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe were among those monitoring the process.

At a polling station in the capital, Yerevan, voters said they hoped Pashinyan would be able to deliver the ambitious changes he has promised.

The revolution led by Pashinyan ousted the country's 10-year President Serzh Sargsyan, a member of the Republic Party. He was accused of clinging to power after taking on the newly-enhanced role of prime minister when his term ended.

Now senior Republican Party figures have accused Pashinyan of trying to turn Armenia into 1930s Germany, and of becoming a Hitler figure.

His critics say his "cult of personality" will weaken multi-party democracy.

Armen Ashotyan, vice-president of the Republican Party, complained before the election that "all political parties were deprived of time to prepare well".

He added that he expected "so-called post-revolutionary euphoria" would be reflected at the ballot box.