People’s Daily Online, China
May 12 2007

Armenian parliament election kicks off

Armenian parliament election started Saturday morning with 1,364
candidates running for 131 seats in the single house National
Assembly, according to reports reaching Moscow.

About 2.3 million of the more than three million population has
resisted voting and the 1,923 polling stations across the Caucasian
country have been open since 8:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), according to the
Itar-Tass news agency.

More than 20 political parties, including the ruling Republican Party
led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan, will strive to win seats after
12 hours of polling.

The election will be monitored by hundreds of local and international
observers including those from Russia and Europe.

A total of 41 seats in the parliament will be elected in
single-mandate constituencies and another 90, on party ballots,
Itar-Tass said.

Source: Xinhua