Armenia Holding Early Parliamentary Elections After War with Azerbaijan

Armenians are casting their ballots in early parliamentary elections on Sunday, after the country’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan last year over the secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

In an acting capacity since April 25, reformist Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Civil Contract party called the snap election in hopes of renewing his mandate but he is in a tight race with former president Robert Kocharyan, 66, of the Armenia Alliance bloc. The vote is being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and closely watched by Russia. Pashinyan, 46, caused a public uproar for signing a Moscow-brokered peace deal with Azerbaijan in November, after six weeks of fighting between the two former Soviet republics in which more than 6,500 people were killed.