On Sunday, June 20, early parliamentary elections are being held in Armenia.

The Central Election Commission of the republic has registered more than 20 parties and four political blocs to vote.

According to the results of the poll of the Armenian office of the Gallup International Association published on June 18, 51.1% of the respondents intend to take part in the elections.

28.7% of the respondents were going to vote for the "Armenia" bloc, headed by the second president of the country Robert Kocharian, for the "Civil Contract" party, headed by the acting president.

Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol Pashinyan - 25.2%.

They are followed by the “I Have the Honor” bloc of the country's third president, Serzh Sargsyan, and the former head of the National Security Service of Armenia, Artur Vanetsyan, with 10.8% of the vote.

The party of prominent businessman Gagik Tsarukyan “Prosperous Armenia” gained 5.4% and took the fourth place in the poll.

The fifth place was taken by the “Enlightened Armenia” party led by human rights activist Edmond Marukyan (5.2%).

Less than 3% of the respondents would vote for the rest of the political forces.

As the president of the republic Armen Sargsyan stated on the eve of the elections, the electoral process will take place "in a difficult, crisis situation" and has "decisive importance" for the country.

"I call on all parties and blocs participating in the elections, all candidates for deputies to be restrained and prudent in their actions and behavior, to call on their comrades-in-arms and supporters for restraint, to show tolerance and respect, not to violate the boundaries of morality for political purposes," fellow citizens of Sargsyan.

In addition, he demanded that law enforcement agencies "strictly suppress any violations of the law and rights, be impartial."

Let us remind you that the political situation inside Armenia aggravated after, following the aggravation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan undertook to transfer a number of territories under the control of Azerbaijan.

  • Serviceman of the Armenian army on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh

  • Reuters

  • © Artem Mikryukov / File

The country's opposition forces regarded this as a military defeat and began to organize protests, blaming Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the incident.

In turn, the Armenian Armed Forces demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and the entire government.

The General Staff said in a statement that the cabinet was “unable to make adequate decisions” in a critical situation for the people.

Pashinyan stated that he regards the General Staff's demand as an attempt at a military coup and fired the deputy head, and then the head of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan.

However, the country's president refused to approve Gasparyan's resignation - the president's press service explained that the document “fundamentally contradicts” the country's Constitution.

After that, rallies of supporters and opponents of the Prime Minister began in Yerevan.

Amid the unrest, Pashinyan proposed holding early parliamentary elections, but the opposition opposed, believing that elections could not be objective while he was in power.

On April 25, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers announced that he was resigning to hold early parliamentary elections.

At the same time, he noted that during the pre-election period he will continue to act as head of government.

Before voting

The election campaign in Armenia began on June 7.

According to the president of the republic, the political forces of the country had more than ten days to "present the programs and goals that they are going to implement."

During a rally in the Tavush region, Nikol Pashinyan, who retired from a technical post, said that the goal of the upcoming parliamentary elections is not to bring the political force he heads to power, but to ensure power to the people.

“This election is about whether you will be in power.

Here is the war between the elite and the people.

It is clear that the war and the post-war situation were just an excuse.

It became a class struggle, "RIA Novosti quotes him.

In addition, speaking live on Facebook on June 17, the acting prime minister said that in the elections, the citizens of Armenia will unequivocally and unconditionally say that the country has a future.

On the same day, during a pre-election debate on the air of Public Television, Pashinyan expressed confidence that his political force would win, gaining 60% of the vote.

He also promised that during the electoral process there will be no mass riots accompanied by the death of people.

According to Pashinyan, law enforcement officers will stop any illegal activity during the voting.

Earlier, Robert Kocharian did not rule out the possibility of clashes after the elections.

In an interview with the Russian media, he also expressed confidence in the victory of his political force and said that the situation in the republic would depend on the results of the voting and the credibility of these results in the Armenian society.

According to Kocharian, the goal of his Armenia bloc is "to balance the branches of power properly."

“Today, the prime minister has much more powers than presidents before him.

The situation is, in fact, abnormal.

And we need to restore the system of checks and balances, ”Kocharian stressed in an interview with RT.

The leader of “Armenia” also outlined his vision of how the republic can build relations with Russia if his political power wins.

Kocharian believes that the range of possible interaction is "very wide", therefore Yerevan and Moscow can build up mutually beneficial cooperation in any direction, including economic integration and joint projects, including infrastructure.

At the same time, the politician did not rule out the opening of a second Russian military base in the republic or the expansion of an existing one.

On the eve of the vote, Kocharian posted a video message to the people of Armenia on the YouTube channel, calling the election day crucial for the country.

According to him, the people of the republic will choose "between a dignified peace and shameful humiliation", "a prosperous life and hopeless poverty."

  • And about.

    Prime Minister of Armenia and the head of the "Civil Contract" party Nikol Pashinyan, as well as the head of the "Armenia" bloc and the second president of the country Robert Kocharian

  • © Reuters / RIA Novosti

The leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, in his electoral program also touched upon the issue of deepening relations with the Russian side.

At a rally on June 17, he announced the need to sign a new military-political agreement with the Russian Federation.

“We are age-old allies with Russia and should not hesitate to deepen cooperation,” Sputnik Armenia news agency quoted him as saying.

As Tsarukyan added, in order to ensure the safety of the people of the republic, it is necessary to protect it by the Armenian and Russian military.

"Only the elections will show"

According to the head of the Caucasus Department of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Novikov, the early parliamentary elections in Armenia are an extremely important stage for the republic, since the country found itself in a severe military-political crisis.

"Against the background of strong opposition from the opposition with the actions of the current government, the electoral process and its results can relieve tension in society, or, conversely, agitate it even more," the expert said in an interview with RT.

In turn, RANEPA professor Alexander Mikhailenko stated that the elections to the Armenian National Assembly are a key event for the country, since it is a parliamentary republic.

“Many issues of the highest priority order are decided by the Armenian parliament.

It is the leading force of the country's National Assembly that decides who will be the prime minister.

Therefore, such close attention is paid to the upcoming electoral process in the republic, "the analyst explained in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, experts agree that it is not possible to predict the results of the elections in Armenia.

“Both Nikol Pashinyan and Robert Kocharian are the main players in this race.

At the same time, both are confident that the leadership will be behind their political forces.

Therefore, only the elections will show what the configuration of the political system in Armenia will be, ”Mikhailenko said.

According to Novikov, if according to the voting results no political force manages to get at least 54% or within six days form a coalition of three forces, which will gain this percentage, then a second round of voting will be held in Armenia.

  • Citizens on the street of Yerevan

  • Reuters

  • © David Mdzinarishvili

At the same time, analysts believe that the situation after the elections will in any case be extremely difficult.

“Whoever wins, the losing side will challenge the results in every possible way, including street protests,” Novikov said.

According to Mikhailenko, this is indicated primarily by the "active, and in some places even aggressive" election campaign in the republic.

“There is a rather uncompromising situation in the air. However, the interests of the Armenian people would be most consistent with a situation in which different political forces could come to an agreement with each other and reduce the degree of mutual accusations. This is important for the integrity of the Armenian society and for the development of the country, including the economic one, ”the expert concluded.