The Strong Armenia alliance will take up its parliamentary mandates if it concludes that doing so would allow it to achieve a change of government more quickly. The statement was made by alliance leader Samvel Karapetyan during a briefing with journalists outside the Anti-Corruption Court.

“If we determine that we can remove Pashinyan more quickly through parliament, then we will go to parliament. If we find that it can be done through street struggle, then we will follow that path,” Samvel Karapetyan said, according to Sputnik Armenia.

He also claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not win the elections.

Karapetyan further stated that if the Civil Contract party is confident about its victory, it should agree to the proposal for a second round of elections in order to strengthen the legitimacy of the election results.

“Armenia must have a legitimate government for the country to develop,” he said.

According to the alliance leader, a second round would provide a clearer picture because, in his view, smaller political forces that influence the distribution of votes would not take part in the process.

Karapetyan also announced that Strong Armenia is preparing to apply to the Constitutional Court.

“We will apply with two demands: to annul the election results and either call new elections or hold a second round,” Karapetyan said.

According to him, the people are the ultimate decision-makers, and if citizens accept the election results, his political force will accept that reality as well. At the same time, he noted that society is still considering its next steps, as such decisions require time.

“In these elections, the winners were the Americans, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Europeans and Russians. The Armenian people lost. Everyone won except our people,” he stated.

In his assessment, the electoral process was accompanied by violations, pressure and an atmosphere of intimidation, and for that reason he does not consider the elections to have been fully free and fair, Panorama.am reports.

“Elections are not held under terror. All of our regional coordinators have been arrested. Seven hundred and eighty people have been detained,” he said.

According to preliminary data, the votes were distributed as follows: Civil Contract — 49.825 percent, Strong Armenia — 23.281 percent, Hayastan Alliance — 9.934 percent, Prosperous Armenia — 3.996 percent. Under updated figures, Prosperous Armenia does not surpass the 4 percent threshold required for parties to enter parliament and has requested recounts in several polling stations.

Late on June 11, the Central Electoral Commission decided to invalidate the voting results at polling stations No. 10/51 and 35/65. As a result, Prosperous Armenia lost a total of 213 votes, reducing its chances of surpassing the 4 percent threshold needed to enter parliament.