Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling party has won parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed on Monday, cementing the nation's Westward tilt after threats from Moscow and claims of Russian interference. The ruling Civil Contract party got 49.8 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of the 23.3 percent of the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia alliance, after all electoral precincts declared results, 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 percent and 4.1 percent of the vote respectively. Turnout was 59 percent, the commission said. Pashinyan hailed his party's "historic victory that will ensure Armenia's eternity and development". He pledged to "continue the course of rapprochement with the West" while also developing Armenia's relations with Russia. "The Armenian people voted for regional prosperity and cooperation, and I hope this will draw a positive response from Turkey and Azerbaijan," he told a news conference, adding that "we need to institutionalise peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan." He also vowed "the final eradication of the criminal-oligarchic system from Armenia", saying: "The leaders of these forces must be held criminally liable."