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

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.

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.