World press reacts to Pashinyan’s “landslide victory”

Soon after the preliminary vote count results of the general election of Armenia were released by the country’s Central Electoral Commission, news media from around the world shifted their spotlight on Armenia.

“Armenia’s acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has bolstered his authority after his political bloc won early parliamentary elections,” the Guardian said.

“Armenian citizens created a revolutionary majority at the parliament,” the British daily newspaper quoted Pashinyan as saying at his bloc’s HQ after the first results were published.

Sputnik News noted that the Republican Party of Armenia, the former ruling party, for the first time failed to cross the 5-percent threshold to get into the country’s parliament, garnering only 4.7 percent of the vote.

“Acting Armenian PM’s bloc easily wins parliamentary vote”, Reuters reported.

“Armenia’s acting PM Nikol Pashinyan wins by landslide”, said Euronews, referring to the overwhelming 70,43% of votes garnered by My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party.

Nearly 40 foreign news media have accredited at the foreign ministry to cover the general election.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said earlier on Facebook the foreign news outlets have accredited more than 80 journalists.

“After the elections, we will be developing Armenian democracy and make an economic revolution happen,” France24 quoted Pashinyan telling reporters after casting his ballot on December 9 in Yerevan.

“Armenians appeared to overwhelmingly back protest leader and current acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in early parliamentary elections on Sunday”, reported the German Deutsche Welle.

The newspaper notes that the former ruling party “suffered a massive defeat and came in at just over 4 percent, according to the early results. “

The Turkish press also covered the election, with TRT World quoting Pashinyan as saying : “An economic revolution is our top priority,” after voting.

Iran’s PressTV noted Pashinyan’s “landslide victory”, that enabled the premier to “consolidate his authority months after he rose to power”.

The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia has released the preliminary results from all 2010 polling stations in the country of the general election vote.

According to the CEC, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance has won a landslide victory with 70,43 % – with 884,456 votes.

The Republican Party of Armenia garnered only 4,70% – 59,059 votes.

Citizens Decision Social-Democratic Party received 0,68%, with 8530 votes.

Bargavatch Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia) Party received 8,27%, with 103,824 votes.

The ARF, or the Dashnaktsutyun, garnered 3,89% with 48,811 votes.

Lusavor Hayastan (Luminous Armenia) Party got 6,37% – 80,024 votes.

2619 voters (0,50%) cast ballots for the Christian-People’s Rebirth Party.

The National Progress Party and the Menk (We) Alliance garnered 0,51% (6456 votes) and 2,00% (25,174) respectively.

Orinats Yerkir Party (Rule of Law) garnered 0,99% with 12,389 votes, and the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party got 1,82% with 22,862 votes.

According to preliminary information the turnout was 48.63%.