AZE.US
Azerbaijani political figure Eldar Namazov has described Armenia’s parliamentary election as a de facto referendum on whether the country would move toward peace with Azerbaijan or return to confrontation.
Writing on Facebook, Namazov said Armenian opposition forces themselves turned the campaign into a contest built around Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev.
According to him, some opposition outlets even framed interim results as if Samvel Karapetyan, Robert Kocharyan and Aliyev were competing against each other, rather than presenting the vote as a normal race between Armenian political forces.
“Aliyev defeated Putin,” Namazov wrote, referring to the political meaning he sees behind the Armenian vote.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won 49.81% of the vote, while the Strong Armenia alliance led by Samvel Karapetyan received 23.29%, according to Armenia’s Central Election Commission. Reuters reported that the result puts Pashinyan in position to continue leading the government.
Namazov argued that if the Armenian opposition’s logic is accepted, the vote should be read differently: not Karapetyan versus Pashinyan or Kocharyan versus Pashinyan, but “Putin-1,” “Putin-2” and Aliyev.
He said Karapetyan and Kocharyan represented forces openly aligned with Moscow, while Pashinyan’s victory was also a defeat for Russia’s influence in Armenia.
“In essence, Pashinyan defeated Karapetyan and Kocharyan, and Ilham Aliyev defeated Vladimir Putin,” Namazov wrote.
The election was closely watched because it was Armenia’s first general vote since its 2023 defeat in Karabakh and came amid disputes over the country’s foreign policy direction, ties with Russia and possible peace with Azerbaijan. Reuters described the vote as a test of Pashinyan’s Western-leaning policies and his peace track with Baku.
The Associated Press reported that four parties crossed Armenia’s electoral threshold, including pro-Russian opposition forces, while Pashinyan said his party would form the government independently.
AZE.US