FACTBOX-What's at stake in Armenia's June election?

Armenia holds a parliamentary election on June 7 that pits the governing Civil Contract party, which ​is pursuing closer ties with the West, against an array of opposition ​parties, many of which are pro-Russian.

Opinion polls and analysts ‌predict ​that Civil Contract, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, will emerge as the largest party but will likely fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to make changes to the constitution. Here's what to look out for:

REFERENDUM ON PEACE DEAL * Civil Contract, ‌in power since 2018, has spent much of the pre-election period touting its progress towards a peace deal with Azerbaijan after Pashinyan signed an initial agreement with Baku at the White House last August.

* A landlocked country of around 3 million, Armenia has been at war off and on with Azerbaijan since the late 1980s, mostly over the mountainous territory ‌of Nagorno-Karabakh. * Baku retook full control of Karabakh in a lightning offensive in 2023, causing nearly all of the region's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

PRO-RUSSIAN ‌OPPOSITION * Armenia's opposition is dominated by pro-Russian groups, several of which are tied to unpopular former presidents.

* The biggest challenger is the Strong Armenia party, led by an Armenian-Russian billionaire who is currently on trial for making calls to overthrow the government. * Strong Armenia is running on a pro-business platform and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to stoke war with Moscow.

CHANGING TIES WITH RUSSIA * Relations with Russia have ⁠frayed since 2023, ​when Azerbaijan retook Karabakh despite the presence of ⁠Russian peacekeepers.

* Armenia is a member of a Russian-led economic union and fully decoupling from Moscow, a major trading partner, would be difficult. The country is also heavily dependent on Russia and neighbouring Iran for ⁠energy supplies and hosts a large Russian military base. * Russia has expressed displeasure with Armenia's westward pivot, saying it could spell "negative political and economic consequences" for Yerevan.

* Armenian civil society groups have raised ​alarm over what they say are Russian state-sponsored disinformation efforts in the lead-up to the election. Moscow routinely denies it meddles in other countries' internal affairs. WARMING TO ⁠THE WEST

* Armenia last year adopted a law to launch its European Union accession process, and Pashinyan has sought to project Armenia as a key partner for Europe in the South Caucasus. * Part of the ⁠Armenia-Azerbaijan ​peace agreement sees a proposed transit corridor built across Armenian territory to better connect Asia to Europe while bypassing Russia.

* An agreement signed with U.S. Vice President JD Vance during a visit this year to Yerevan could pave the way for an American company to build a new nuclear reactor in Armenia. NORMALISATION WITH AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY

* Yerevan ⁠and Baku reached a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in August but have yet to sign a formal deal. Azerbaijan is demanding Armenia first change some wording in its ⁠constitution, which Yerevan says it is willing to ⁠do. A constitutional referendum is possible after the election. * Armenia's borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey have been closed for decades, with the latter shuttering its frontier in 1993 in solidarity with its key ally Baku over the Karabakh issue.

* Progress has been made recently ‌towards normalisation with Ankara, including ‌in trade, but in general the process has been slow.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)