The velvet revolution originated in the hearts and souls of the Armenian people, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday during the PACE spring session.

“Our political party received over 70% of the vote, but more importantly the PACE observation mission concluded that the election was democratic. It said, “Owing to the Velvet revolution and the political will demonstrated by the authorities, it has been possible to conduct democratic elections in Armenia.” The other international observation missions also recognised December’s snap parliamentary election as a free, fair, democratic and competitive election, an assessment that had never been made of any previous election in Armenia.

It was the first time that the official outcome of a parliamentary election in my country was not challenged in the constitutional court. It was also the first parliamentary election in Armenia to produce a result that was unreservedly accepted by all the political forces and the general public. Now, standing here as Prime Minister after being elected by the people of the Republic of Armenia, I wish to extend my gratitude to the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly for their support of human rights and the development of democracy in Armenia.

Democracy has now prevailed in Armenia. It has happened because of the non-violent, Velvet people’s revolution that took place in Armenia about a year ago. I want to underline clearly that the revolution was conceived in the soul and heart of the Armenian people. No foreign power was involved in any way whatsoever in our revolution. It had no geopolitical content nor any geopolitical undercurrents,” he said.