Armenian speaker votes “for powerful and changing Armenia”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Samvel Nikoyan voted for May 6 parliamentary elections with his family members at 2/10 polling station.

“I came to voting with my mood high; I voted with great faith and confidence. I have cast my ballot for the future, sustainable development, peace and security of our country, for powerful and changing Armenia so that each Armenian citizen has the opportunity to provide a worthy life for themselves and their families,” Armenian speaker told the journalists after voting.

“I think it is crucial that these elections are free, fair and lawful, so that each voter is convinced in this. Of course, it is important that the international community shares this confidence as well.

I think we will have quite active National Assembly representing different views and different political forces; such parliament will be interesting to work with,” Nikoyan mentioned.

Parliamentary elections feature 8 political parties, Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD), Orinats Yerkir, Heritage, Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and United Armenian party, as well as one election bloc represented by opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).

To enter the parliament, Armenian National Congress (ANC) must overcome 7% threshold as a bloc, unlike the parties, which need 5% threshold level.

647 international and over 31 thous. local observers will monitor the parliamentary elections in Armenia. OSCE/ODIHR (258 observers), OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (69), PACE (37), CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (22), as well as International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and SILBA international organization have deployed observer missions in Armenia.

The preliminary results will be published no later than 24 hours after the voting, with final results to be released on the seventh day starting the voting day.