The ruling Republican Party may get majority seats at the new parliament

The Republican Party (RP) has gained 49,17 percent of the vote by 10 am, according to the Central Election Commission. RP is followed by the Tsarukian bloc with 27,38 percent of the vote. Votes from 1977 of 2009 voting districts have been counted so far.

Shortly after the voting was over, the exit poll results were announced, which run quite close to the real outcome. In total, 30 thousand voters were interviewed out of 126 voting districts. The Baltic Surveys/The Gallup Organization organized the exit poll in cooperation with the Armenian Sociological Association. The poll results look as follows:

• The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) received 46 percent of the vote

• The Tsarukian bloc — 25%,

• The Elk bloc — 10%,

• Dashnaktsutron, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) — 5%,

• The Armenian Revival Party — 4%,

• The Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian (ORO) bloc — 3%,

• The Congress-People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) bloc — 3%,

• The Free Democrats Party — 2%,

• The Armenian Communist Party — 2%.

It seems that even the leading Republican Party would hardly garner the required 54 percent of the vote to form a stable majority. Armenia’s new election code envisions the following procedures in similar cases: those political forces which overcome the threshold (5 percent for political parties and 7 percent for blocs) has six days for forming a coalition.

The coalition has to be comprised of maximum three political entities and they have to agree on a nominee for the future Prime Minister’s office. If they fail to form the coalition, 28 days later a run-off has to be held. Those garnering the majority of votes in the first round of the election, will take part in the run-off.

The election was held in a quite peaceful environment. Observers and journalists frequently reported on violations of ballot secrecy. Complaints on multiple voting were rare. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office received over 1300 reports, though noted that “the signs of election-type crime” had been found only in one out of five cases.