ARMENIAN PREXY PLEADS FOR PEACE ON EVE OF CLOSE ELECTION

On the eve of parliamentary elections in Armenia and with tensions running high, President Armen Sargsyan urged citizens to peacefully cast their ballots upon the opening of polling Sunday, Ulf Mauder and Awet Demurjan reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

More than 20 parties and political blocs are contesting the election - more than ever before in the South Caucasus country - with 2.6 million people eligible to vote. After a bitter election campaign filled with threats and insults, it is unacceptable that "political and moral boundaries are crossed, that the situation escalates and hatred and enmity are fomented," Sargsyan said in the capital Yerevan on Saturday.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is struggling to hold on to his job after facing months of protests over his handling of the recent 44-day war with neighboring Azerbaijan. Last year, Azerbaijan recaptured large parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been contested by the two countries for decades. More than 6,500 people died in the latest flare-up of violence.

Many Armenians blame Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 in the wake of the country's Velvet Revolution, for the loss of territory. Pashinyan called the early election under pressure from the opposition.

His most promising opponent is twice-elected former president Robert Kocharian. The first election results are expected late Sunday evening, with the outcome seen as too close to call. The latest polls saw Kocharian's Armenia Alliance slightly ahead of Pashinyan's Civil Contract party.

The vote will also indirectly decide the future of the November 9 ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan, which was brokered by Russia. From Moscow's perspective, the 46-year-old Pashinyan is a guarantor that the agreement will remain in place. This includes the stationing of some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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