According to Russian observers who monitored Armenia’s parliamentary elections, “numerous and serious violations were recorded during the voting process,” said Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia’s Central Election Commission.

“Frankly speaking, there were many violations, and they were violations of a fundamental nature,” Pamfilova said during a meeting of the Russian Central Election Commission, according to Interfax.

She noted that Pavel Andreyev, a member of Russia’s Central Election Commission, observed the elections as part of the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), while another commission member, Lyudmila Markina, participated in the observer mission of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In addition, 24 representatives of election commissions from various regions of the Russian Federation also took part in the observation process.

“Our colleagues described what they saw. We have an opportunity to compare with previous elections because many of them have participated in such missions multiple times.

Armenia has moved quite far away from democratic standards, although it believes it is ready to move toward Europe (...). In any case, that is not our business. I believe the people of Armenia will draw the appropriate conclusions,” Pamfilova said.

According to preliminary results, votes were distributed as follows: Civil Contract — 49.825 percent, Strong Armenia — 23.281 percent, Armenia Alliance — 9.934 percent, and Prosperous Armenia — 3.996 percent. Updated figures indicate that Prosperous Armenia has not crossed the 4 percent threshold required for parties and has requested recounts in several polling stations.