Parliamentary Elections in Armenia

The article examines the Armenian parliamentary election of 6 May 2012, have important significance for ruling party for international support after brutal 2008 presidential elections which resulted bloody postelection wake. Author argues that Parliamentary elections since 1995 being marred by accusations of fraud, the last manifestation of the parliament was not heavily controlled by pro-government forces, however, coming less than a year before the incumbent president will seek re-election to a second term in office, the 6 May vote can best be seen as a precursor to the presidential election early next year. While observing attitudes before the elections, author give credit that what more interest to election watchers for this year’s parliamentary election was the potential rivalry between the two main governing parties, HHK and BHK. After the elections, most widely publicized incidents was that temporary ink stamps in the passports of citizens who had voted disappeared in less than an hour rather than the 12 hours they should remain visible and opposition and civil society groups claimed that this was evidence that multiple voting was taking place. Even elections hasn’t changed power balance in Parliament drastically, main discussion since the vote has instead been whether Sargsyan’s re-election bid next year will be challenged by the former president Kocharian which linked BHK and who its candidate might be with some speculating that Robert Kocharian might attempt a return to power in 2013.

Authors: Onnik Krikorian
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