Legislative elections start in Armenia

Voters in Armenia went to the polls to vote in the early legislative elections called by Prime Minister Nikola Pachinian.

9 December, 2018 06:28

NEWS DESK

Polling centers opened at 4:00 pm (GMT) to vote until 16:00 GMT.

In the elections, which were supposed to take place in 2022 before being submitted, nine parties and two electoral blocs are competing on 101 parliament seats.

Under Armenian law, any party needs at least 5 % of the vote to be able to hold a seat in parliament. As for the electoral blocs, they must get 7% of the votes.

Pachinian, a 43-year-old former journalist, took over as prime minister in May after leading peaceful protests against the government for weeks leads to the ousting of Serge Sarkisian, who led the government 10 years ago.

But the parliament largely remained under the control of the Republican Party led by former President Serge Sarkisian. Therefore, Pachinian sought to organize these elections in this former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus.

Observers expect that the Pachinian bloc will get a majority in the new parliament, allowing him to move forward in his campaign to reshape the political scene and launch the "economic revolution."

ANHA