YEREVAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party was leading in the parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results released on Monday.
As of 9:15 a.m. local time (0515 GMT) on Monday, the Central Election Commission (CEC) had processed 1,453,780 ballots from 1,980 of the country's 2,005 polling stations.
According to the CEC, Civil Contract received 715,704 votes, or 49.82 percent of the total. The Strong Armenia Alliance, led by Samvel Karapetyan, came second with 335,144 votes, or 23.33 percent, followed by former President Robert Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance with 142,952 votes, or 9.95 percent.
Election officials said voter turnout reached nearly 59 percent after polls closed at 8:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Sunday. ■
