SMS vote-rigging was the hot topic this week, as Armenian music stars and fans traded scandalous accusations of fraud in a live singing contest held on Sunday night which selected Russian-born singer of Armenian descent Eva Rivas to represent Armenia in the annual Eurovision International Song Contest. The designated jury selected the Emmy and Mihran duo as their prime choice for the contest, but SMS voting of the audience during the live show played a decisive role and Eva Rivas came on top instead. Emmi and Mihran supporters claimed their SMS votes were prevented from going through, staging a small-scale protest action in capital Yerevan and claiming unfair treatment.

The GDP in Armenia grew by 2,4% in January 2010, compared with January 2009 results, to comprise AMD 149,5 billion.

The previous week began with news conferences of various political forces of Armenia. As always, most active were representatives of the Republican Party of Armenia, the Heritage Party, and the ARF Dashnaktsutyun. Got into political life also the Armenian National Congress, which until then, preferred to work in the office.

Armenian mobile services market edged closer to full saturation in 2009, with nearly every working adult in the country of 3.2 million people having one or more mobile phones, and the number of mobile subscribers passing the 2,5 million mark. While the mobile operators say that there is still a lot of room to grow and compete, the question is – how exactly that competition will take place, and will the customers and the telecom sector benefit from the fight for market or otherwise.

According to RA Ministry of Diaspora, there are 75 Armenology centers outside Armenia. However, not all of them are active due to lack of funds. The centers, which are mainly sponsored by Armenian funds and organizations, have appreciable achievements in Armenology development and national identity retention.