Focus News, Bulgaria
May 12 2007

Armenia holds parliamentary poll

12 May 2007 | 11:08 | FOCUS News Agency

Erevan. Armenia is holding a parliamentary election seen as a test of
the country’s commitment to democracy.
The governing Republican Party led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan
is expected to defeat the opposition.
This is Armenia’s fourth election since it gained independence in
1991. Foreign monitors said the last poll, in 2003, did not meet
democratic standards.
Ahead of the vote Western countries have warned of serious
consequences if Armenia does not improve this record.
"The real test is on election day and during counting," a spokesman
for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation of Europe (OSCE)
monitors told Reuters news agency.
"That is a corner stone," he added.
If there is evidence of fraud, Armenia could lose more than $200m
(£101m) of American development aid and the possibility of closer
links with the European Union, the BBC’s Matthew Collin in Yerevan
says.
These are vital for the future of this small, impoverished and
isolated country, our correspondent says.
Polling stations across Armenia opened at 0800 local time (0300 GMT).

About 2.3m voters are registered to elect 131 members of the
country’s National Assembly.
The start of the campaign was marred by a series of violent attacks.
Questions were also raised about the conduct of some politicians who
had been offering gifts to potential voters.
Our correspondent says some opposition parties believe the vote will
be rigged so Armenia’s elite can retain its wealth and power.
Critics have accused the authorities of trying to silence dissent and
have vowed to launch protests after the elections.
Officials say that changes in the country’s electoral law will make
these polls more democratic.
Armenia fought an unresolved war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region after the break-up of the Soviet Union in
the early 1990s.
Yerevan also has fraught relations with Turkey.
Earlier this week, Armenia angered OSCE by refusing to grant visas to
eight Turkish members of its 400-strong group of foreign observers.
Source: BBC