May 6, 2012 - 14:08 AMT
PHOTOSET
Heritage leader votes for “common heritage of Armenian people”

At May 6 parliamentary elections in Armenia, Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian cast his vote at electoral district 10/06 of Nork-Marash administrative district.

As the party leader told journalists following the vote, he cast ballot for “common heritage of Armenian people.” “I believe in our country and people,” Hovannisian stressed.

Asked to comment on voting violations, Hovannisian said he’ll provide assessment in a statement to be delivered tomorrow. “I’m confident, tomorrow I’ll wake up in a different Armenia,” the politician said.

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 Armenians party, as well as one election bloc represented by opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).

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.

Citizens will elect 131 MPs of the next convocation of the National Assembly, with 90 of them running by proportional system and 41- by the majority system.

PHOTOSET