Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections, results showed Monday, cementing his authority months after sweeping to power in a peaceful revolution.
Pashinyan, a 43-year-old former journalist, has pledged to root out endemic corruption and address widespread poverty in the impoverished, landlocked ex-Soviet republic of three million people.
With all votes counted, the bloc led by Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party had taken 70.43 percent of the vote, the central election commission said.
The Prosperous Armenia party led by influential oligarch and former arm wrestler Gagik Tsarukyan came a distant second with 8.27 percent.
Pashinyan hailed his victory on Monday morning, thanking the “mighty people” of Armenia.
“I am proud of you… Let’s be courageous,” he wrote on Facebook.
He became prime minister in May after spearheading weeks of peaceful anti-government rallies that ousted veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian.
