Armenians decided to turn the page on their tumultuous political past giving incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a strong mandate for a balanced, pro-West future as early results on Monday show his Civil Contract party in the lead.
The vote on Sunday also signals diminishing influence in a region once dominated by Russia, despite reported threats from Moscow and claims of interference.
Armenia and Russia are technically allies, but Moscow has compared the former Soviet republic's ambitions to join the European Union to one of the reasons it triggered its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
With more than 60% of the votes counted, the Civil Contract party is leading against Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia alliance by 51.2% to 23%, the Central Election Commission said.
Two other opposition forces, ex-president Robert Kocharyan's "Armenia" alliance and the Prosperous Armenia party, also cleared the electoral threshold, winning 9.9% and 4.1% of the vote respectively.
