Armenia's Pashinyan claims victory in Sunday's parliamentary election

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared victory in his country's parliamentary election early Monday.

Speaking to reporters, Pashinyan said his Civil Contract party had won the elections.

"I extend my gratitude to all my colleagues in the party. We worked day and night, and this is a victory of history. This victory belongs to the Armenian people," he said.

With all ballots counted from the country's 2,005 polling stations, Civil Contract secured 49.82% of the vote, according to the state news agency Armenpress, citing preliminary results shared by Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan.

The Strong Armenia party, led by billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, was in second place with 23.28%, followed by former President Robert Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance with 9.93%.

Pashinyan said his government would continue its policy of rapprochement with Europe while maintaining ties with Russia.

"We will also continue our membership in the Eurasian Economic Union. We will continue to develop our relations with Russia," he added.

According to the election commission, Armenia has nearly 2.5 million registered voters, with about 1.47 million of them casting their ballots in Sunday's election, amounting to a turnout of nearly 59%.

A total of 16 political parties and two political alliances competed for seats in the next convocation of the at-least-101-seat Armenian parliament.