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Armenia's pro-West government wins election despite Russian pressure
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16 minutes agoKathryn ArmstrongandRayhan Demytrie,Caucasus correspondent, YerevanReutersNikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018 on the back of protests against former leader Serzh SargysanArmenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party has won a crucial election billed as being key in deciding whether the country continues to move closer to the West.Pashinyan's centrist Civil Contract Party secured 49.8% of the vote, with the Strong Armenia Alliance coming in second with 23.2%. The Armenia Alliance was third with 9.9%. Sunday's vote was the first general election since Armenia, a small South Caucasus country of three million people, suffered a crushing military defeat by Azerbaijan in 2023. It was viewed as a test of the prime minister's push to deepen ties with the West while facing mounting economic pressure from Russia, its largest trading partner and traditional ally.Pashinyan, who has been in power since 2018, declared victory on Monday after early results showed his party had secured more than 50% of the vote."Armenian people voted for peace, regional prosperity and cooperation," he said.The election drew significant international attention to the country. On Monday, France and the EU were among European powers that congratulated Pashinyan, praising Armenia's closer ties with the West. Civil Contract's success came despite Pashinyan's domestic support falling from 54% in 2021 to around 30% today, according to polls.A total of 19 parties and alliances took part in the election but few of these earned enough votes to gain a seat in the national assembly. Turnout was 59%, the electoral commission said. The conservative Prosperous Armenia party, led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, came fourth with 4% of the vote. It, like the Strong Armenia Alliance - led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, and the Armenia Alliance - led by former President Robert Kocharyan, are pro-Russian. "We will continue the course of rapprochement with the West, but we will also continue our participation and membership in the Eurasian Economic Union," Pashinyan also said on Monday. In late May, the Russian president called on Armenia to hold a referendum "as soon as possible" on whether to join the EU or remain in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a customs bloc from which Armenia benefits.Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin listed the economic benefits Armenia stood to lose if it pursued closer ties with the West - pointedly noting that "the crisis in Ukraine began with efforts to move toward EU accession".Russia supplies Armenia with gas at $177.50 (£132.90) per 1,000 cubic metres, while European market prices, as Putin pointed out to Pashinyan in April, exceed $600.In the two weeks preceding the election, Moscow banned the export of Armenian flowers, mineral water, cognac, fresh vegetables and fruit.He also hosted a large summit of EU leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital, Yerevan, earlier this year.Despite Pashinyan developing, good-natured relationship with European leaders, Armenia doesn't even have EU candidate status yet, and membership of the bloc is still a long way off.His loss of popularity is mainly due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave inside Azerbaijan that was home to 100,000 ethnic Armenians until Azerbaijan took it by force in 2023.Pashinyan's critics have never forgiven him for making concessions in favour of peace with Azerbaijan, like refusing to campaign for the release of former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who are in jail in the neighbouring country.The peace deal with Azerbaijan, too, remains deeply divisive, with one recent poll showing 44% of public opinion in support and 41% opposed.Lala is among those who voted to keep the current government in powerIn the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the election results were not met with much excitement and people were going about their days as usual. Lala, 70, is a gardener who looks after the roses
President Trump speaks at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Friday, June 5, 2026. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption toggle caption Mark Schiefelbein/AP BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of "No new wars" that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House. Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he "didn't guarantee" there would be no wars if he were back in office. "First of all, I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?" Trump said. Trump also defended plans for a now-scrapped $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president and he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California's drawn-out vote count from Tuesday's primary. He ended the interview abruptly when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC's Kristen Welker. Iran 'is not an endless war' In his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly cast his Democratic opponents as warmongers and said he was a president who started "no new wars" and would bring an era of peace. But Trump said in the NBC interview, taped Friday in Wisconsin, that as a candidate, "I didn't promise anything." "I don't like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We've been doing this for three months," he said of the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28. Trump said he was "doing the world a service" and "doing our country a service" because he had to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon. But elsewhere in the interview, Trump repeated a contradictory message where he said U.S. strikes last year "obliterated" Iranian nuclear sites. He also defended his decision in his first term to withdraw from Democratic President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, an agreement he has heavily criticized, without negotiating the "better deal" he has promised to reach. "It takes years to do these things," Trump said. Trump without evidence claims fraud in California vote California's notoriously prolonged vote count has been a magnet for election conspiracy theories, and Trump since Tuesday's election has claimed without evidence that Democrats are rigging the election. The Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday that his office had opened "multiple election fraud investigations." Late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots have eaten into the vote totals for Trump's preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor. While Trump has often said that changes to vote totals as late ballots are counted are a sign of fraud, they are merely a reflection of a slow vote-counting process. Trump in the interview kept claiming that it was a sign of "cheating" and "a rigged election," and grew increasingly frustrated as Welker pressed him for evidence to support that. "All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look," Trump said. "But that's not evidence," Welker responded. "And I listen. And I listen to people. And let's see what happens," Trump replied. 'Anti-weaponization' fund Trump defended plans that his Department of Justice said it has now abandoned to create a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" as part of a settlement to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday that the department was scrapping the plan. That announcement came after the plan was paused by a judge and after both Democrats and some Republicans said they were concerned about the fund's lack of oversight and the possibility of payouts being made to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Trump told NBC he thought the fund was "a great idea" and that he would be "disappointed" if it were not approved. When asked if he thought people who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should get a payout, Trump said, "I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to se
Just nowBrajesh Upadhyay and Dulcie LeeReutersUS President Donald Trump abruptly walked out of an interview with NBC after being repeatedly challenged on several claims by the show's presenter Kristen Welker.During the interview, which aired on Sunday's Meet The Press, the president claimed both the current primary elections in California and the 2020 presidential election were "rigged".When pressed for evidence on California's vote by Welker, he said: "All I have to do is look, and I listen."After the presenter replied "that's not evidence", Trump accused the media of being "crooked", before ending the interview: "Sorry, let's call it quits because I've had enough."The president has had a fraught relationship with traditional media outlets, often accusing them of bias against him.The interview, set in a barn as Trump appeared at an event with farmers in Wisconsin, was delayed repeatedly due to technical difficulties and rain hitting the metal roof. NBC reported that he walked out 50 minutes after sitting down for it on Friday.Much of the interview involved Welker questioning Trump over the conflict with Iran, with him insisting the US needed to act to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and that it would not be "an endless war"."We're there for a few months and the threat is largely over," he said.Around six minutes before he left the set, the pair discussed the "anti-weaponisation" fund, a now-dropped plan to create a $1.8bn (£1.3bn) fund to compensate individuals who claim they were unfairly targeted or investigated by the government.The plan drew strong criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, who argued it could result in payments to people prosecuted over the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.The pair then moved onto discussing that riot, and Trump was challenged after he repeated his unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was rigged.Trump turned to the California primary elections, where votes are still being counted to determine which two candidates in a series of races - including governor of the state - will be on the ballot in November's midterm elections.He said the results had not been called after four days, adding: "They're cheating on the election.""Do you have evidence to support that?" Welker responded."All I have to do is look, and I listen," the president replied."But that's not evidence," she interjected.Full results have not yet been called in the state where delays are common due to a particularly meticulous vote-counting process and broad use of mail-in ballots. Mail-in voting has long irked the president."They're crooked," he continued, "just like you're crooked."Welker said: "To be fair, I'm not crooked. But let's continue."Trump then told Welker "you're either crooked or you're stupid", and after a further exchange said: "Let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you darling, have a good time."Welker attempted to continue the interview, but Trump interrupted: "I've sat in the rain with you for an hour, on and off in the rain, and I've given you enough time."You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest press."He then gestured to people behind the camera, saying "come on, let's go", before standing up and walking off the set.After the interview was broadcast, Welker said: "I spoke with President Trump on Saturday and we both acknowledged the complications during the interview posed by the rain. He agreed to sit down with me for another Meet the Press interview."The BBC has approached the White House for comment.
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