Armenia: pro-West party wins election
Armenia's ruling party Civil Contract has won the parliamentary election, securing just under 50 percent of the vote and an absolute majority of seats. Party leader Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has been in power since 2018, sees this as a clear mandate to continue the country's pro-Western course. All the other parties that will form the opposition in parliament advocate a more pro-Russian course. Europe's press discusses the sharp divide.
Moscow unattractive as a protector
For Český rozhlas, the election results are only logical:
“More and more Armenians are realising that Russia's policy towards their country is deeply neo-colonialist, that it would be a mistake to rely on this former patron today, and that economic and perhaps even military cooperation with the European Union would make far more sense. As a result, Russia is losing further key positions in the Caucasus and across the post-Soviet space – a more or less logical development. After all, in today's world, who would want a powerful ally whose political system is an outright dictatorship?”
Economically dependent on Russia
The outcome cannot alter the economic reality, writes Rzeczpospolita:
“In business terms the country remains heavily dependent on the Russian market, since Russia accounts for over 35 percent of the total trade volume ... It is Russian corporations that currently manage Armenia's railways and gas pipelines and, until recently, its electricity grids. ... Armenia's second-largest trading partner is China (12 percent), while the EU only ranks third (11 percent) and competes with the United Arab Emirates in this respect.”
From trauma to vision for the future
The traumatic loss of the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan has not been forgotten, notes Il Manifesto:
“Having initially aligned himself with the prevailing nationalists at the start of his career, Pashinyan is now attempting to transform this national trauma into a vision for the future: the doctrine of the 'real Armenia' he promotes envisages renouncing all territorial claims and seeking reconciliation with Baku, as well as with neighbouring, former (?) arch-enemy Turkey. Added to that is his promise of 'peace' (the slogan of his election campaign) and, in effect, the prelude to a historic re-balancing of power in the Caucasus – a development which, incidentally, is catching the attention of investors and foreign ministries around the world.”
Still in limbo
The future will be complicated no matter how clear-cut the result, warns the Frankfurter Rundschau:
“Armenia may be reaching out to the West, but this small landlocked country, wedged between Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, won't be able to simply escape Russia's influence. The economic ties are too close, the security constraints too great. The desire for greater freedom clashes with the reality of continuing dependence. Armenia remains a country in limbo. The election result cannot mask the deep divides within its society, torn between its Soviet past and an uncertain European future.”
Rushed integration would be risky
Armenia's pro-Western shift could be explosive for all of Europe, Trud warns:
“Armenia has become yet another front in the major geopolitical contest between Moscow and Brussels, and serves as a disturbing reminder of a scenario we've already witnessed in other parts of the former Soviet sphere. ... Behind this backdrop, however, lies something far more dangerous: the attempt to hastily push a small country – one that is deeply integrated into the Russian sphere economically, energetically and militarily – into an alliance that is neither willing to accept it nor capable of protecting it.”