On June 7, parliamentary elections started in Armenia, more than 2 thousand polling stations opened throughout the country at 8.00 and will remain open until 20.00. The Armenian service of Radio Liberty wrote about this.
According to the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2.49 million people registered to vote.
About 400 international observers are authorized to monitor the voting process. The Central Election Commission (CEC) said preliminary results will be published within 24 hours after polling stations close, with final results expected to be announced on June 14.
A total of 16 parties and two electoral blocs are represented in the parliamentary elections; the threshold for entry is 4% and 8%, respectively. In total, there must be at least 101 deputies and at least three political parties in parliament.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's pro-European Civil Contract party has the support of 24-32% of voters, according to preliminary polls. The pro-Russian “Strong Armenia” of Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan has support of approximately 6–11%, the publication says. At the end of May, Reuters wrote about the intention of the aggressor country Russia to send tens of thousands of Armenian citizens to vote against Pashinyan.
The GORDON publication noted that a poll by the American International Republican Institute in May indicated a confident leadership of the Civil Contract with approximately 65% of the vote. In a survey by the sociological center SAEAC, cited by Arminfo, on the contrary, it was said that the “Strong Armenia” bloc is almost 3% ahead of the “Civil Contract” (20.6% versus 17.8%). On the eve of the elections, PolitPro, an aggregator of electoral polls and European political statistics, predicted a victory for the party of the current prime minister (47%).
Pashinyan was one of the first to vote in the elections, NEWS.am reported.
In a conversation with him, journalists recalled the recent threats of Alexander Lukashenko, who calls himself the President of Belarus, about the likelihood of a repetition of the “Ukrainian scenario” in Armenia. Media representatives were asked to comment on these statements. Pashinyan responded by calling them “frivolous.” Previously, the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin also warned that Armenia could suffer the “Ukrainian scenario” because of its European integration aspirations, The Moscow Times wrote.
As for Armenian-Russian relations, Pashinyan emphasized that he “does not see any tension.” He noted that he maintains close relations with the illegitimate president of the aggressor country, Russia, Vladimir Putin. When asked by Radio Liberty about his readiness to work as an opposition in the event of a lack of a majority in parliament, Pashinyan replied that “he will do as the people decide.”
