International Herald Tribune, France
March 3 2007

Armenian election officials register 29 parties to take part in May
poll

YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenian election authorities on Saturday finalized
the list of parties and candidates that will take part in the May
parliamentary vote, paving the way for the start of the election
campaign, officials said.

Twenty-nine parties will compete for 90 party-based seats and 173
politicians will run for the remaining 41 seats that are awarded to
individual candidates in the country’s single-chamber legislature,
election authorities said in a statement.

In order to get into parliament, a party must win at least 5 percent
of votes, according to Armenian election law.

Among the registered parties are three main pro-government parties,
two centrist groups and a number of smaller opposition parties as
well as a number of other groups.

Parliament was last elected in 2003. (AP)