Opposition parties in Armenia have alleged a series of voting irregularities during parliamentary elections on June 7, while authorities reported arrests linked to reports of suspected vote-buying, local media panarmenian.net reports.

The claims come as Armenia awaits the final results from the election.

Earlier in the day, one of those casting a ballot was Aram Sargsyan, the Republic Party's candidate for prime minister, who voted at a polling station in the village of Ararat.

"I voted for an independent, democratic Republic of Armenia that has become an integral part of the progressive world," Sargsyan is reported as wroting on Facebook.

As voting concluded, however, the focus shifted to turnout figures and official vote counts.

A reported 58.97% of eligible voters cast ballots - 1,476,597 people out of 2,503,976 registered voters ARMENPRESS writes.

As of the early hours on June 8, with votes counted from roughly one-fifth of polling stations, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling Civil Contract party was leading with about 54.5% of the vote. Strong Armenia with 21.9% of the ballot and the Armenia Alliance with 8.7% made up the top three. Prosperous Armenia was running fourth with about 5% Reuters reports. Pashinyan subsequently declared victory shortly after the initial results were released, describing the outcome as a "historic victory".

At the same time, reports are also emerging that prosecutors in the country have disclosed hundreds of election-related investigations conducted during the campaign period.

The claims emerged as voters cast ballots to elect a new National Assembly. A total of 18 political entities, including 16 parties and two electoral alliances, contested the election.

At a press conference, representatives of the opposition group Strong Armenia Alliance alleged a range of procedural and technical problems at multiple polling stations according to panarmenian.net. Gohar Meloyan, a member of the alliance and constitutional lawyer and election-law specialist, said that authorised party representatives had been denied access to several polling stations.

"The violations are significant and substantive, and they indicate one thing: certain political forces lack confidence in their victory," Meloyan said, according to Sputnik Armenia, the Armenian-language branch of the Russian state media network.

She also claimed that some polling stations experienced power outages and technical malfunctions involving voter identification equipment. According to Meloyan, reports had also been received that fingerprint verification devices failed to operate properly in some regions.

The alliance further alleged discrepancies between receipt numbers issued to voters and numbers recorded on electoral registers. Meloyan said some ballot envelopes appeared partially transparent and could potentially compromise ballot secrecy once cast.

Among other claims, she presented a video that she said showed a voter removing a ballot paper belonging to the alliance from a polling station before later discarding it. The alliance further said it had received complaints about allegedly damaged ballot papers and campaign materials found around polling stations.

None of the allegations have yet been independently verified.

Separately, the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party has also accused law enforcement authorities of targeting party representatives on election day.

Iveta Tonoyan, a member of the party's political council, said Prosperous Armenia had received numerous reports concerning the detention of regional party representatives.

"The day began with attacks by various branches of the law enforcement system," Tonoyan said, according to Panorama.am.

She alleged that regional offices and party campaign coordinators had been subjected to a "total attack" and claimed that party members were being detained on what she described as fabricated grounds.

Tonoyan went on to report complaints regarding alleged directed voting, and attempts to remove ballot papers from polling stations. She added that campaign materials displayed near voting locations were also removed.

Throughout the day, the party called on voters to report any suspected electoral violations and urged citizens to participate in the vote.

The allegations from both opposition groups came against the backdrop of extensive investigations by Armenian authorities into alleged election-related offences in the run up to the poll.

Speaking at the Central Electoral Commission, Tsovak Mnatsakanyan, a senior prosecutor overseeing the legality of pre-trial proceedings at the Anti-Corruption Committee, said authorities had received 282 reports concerning alleged interference with the electoral process between February 7 and June 7.

According to the prosecutor, criminal proceedings had been initiated in a total of 165 cases while public criminal prosecutions have been launched against 252 individuals. Fourteen criminal cases involving 42 defendants had been referred to court with approved indictments.

Authorities have also sought permission from the Central Electoral Commission to prosecute several parliamentary candidates, reports say. According to Mnatsakanyan, approval had been granted in most cases, while one request remained under consideration. One parliamentary candidate had been declared wanted but had not yet been located.