Polls open in Armenia’s general elections

Armenians are voting in landmark legislative elections for the first time since the adoption of constitutional reforms aimed at transforming the ex-Soviet country into a parliamentary republic.

The Sunday vote is seen by the West as a key democratic test for the small landlocked nation of 2.9 million, which has no history of transfers of power to an opposition through the ballot box.

The campaign has already been marred by opposition claims that the government is preparing mass electoral fraud.

Ahead of the vote, the European Union delegation to Armenia and the US Embassy said in a joint statement that they were “concerned by allegations of voter intimidation, attempts to buy votes, and the systemic use of administrative resources to aid certain competing parties.”

There are also fears of violence. Ten people were killed in 2008 clashes between police and opposition supporters following the election of pro-Moscow President Serzh Sarkisian.

In the elections now underway, the country seeks to hold an exemplary vote to elect “a parliament trusted by society,” Sarkisian told AFP in an interview in March.

Analysts have said the vote is dominated by fierce competition between the ruling party and a coalition of opposition parties led by Gagik Tsarukian, a former arm wrestler who is one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen.

A total of five parties and four electoral blocs are running in the vote, with 101 parliamentary seats up for grabs under a proportional representation system. A party needs to clear a five-percent threshold to be represented in the parliament, while an electoral bloc made up of several parties needs to garner at least seven percent of the vote.

Voting, which started at 0400 GMT and ends at 1600 GMT, will be monitored by international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

(Source: AFP)

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