Sociologist: no party will get majority of parliamentary seats

PanARMENIAN.Net - No party will gain 66 proportional seats in the National Assembly and form a majority, Aharon Adibekyan said.

At an April 26 press conference, the sociologist briefed the journalists on the 3-stage survey the Sociometer sociological center is currently conducting.

According to him, they are holding public opinion polls in 8 constituencies; the survey includes initial, interim and final studies aiming to identify the candidates' rating in the given constituency, the age group of their voters, etc.

In this election campaign the parties set their hopes on candidates running by majority system, while the candidates rely on their parties' profile, Adibekyan said.

The sociologist believes the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) tops the race with its proportional list; Prosperous Armenia comes second followed by ARF Dashnakstutyun, Orinats Yerkir and the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).

However, Adibekyan said, Prosperous Armenia will get few seats by majority vote since “it did not nominate candidates in many constituencies, while those proposed are not prominent figures”.

The sociologist forecasts 75% of votes to be distributed between RPA and Prosperous Armenia in the proportional vote, with respective 40 and 35 per cent ratio.

As to ANC, Adibekyan believes it will gain only 8-9% instead of estimated 23-24% of votes, because one cannot come to power in Armenia on a wave of protest which namely unites ANC supporters.