Parliamentary election in Armenia 2012
The parliamentary elections in Armenia in 2012 took place on May 6, 2012.
President Serzh Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party won a large majority of the seats. Armenia's wealthiest man, Gagik Zarukjan, with his Armenia in Bloom Party came in second with over a quarter of the seats, while the Armenian National Congress , Armenian Revolutionary Federation , Land of Law and Heritage each won less than 10 percent of the seats.
Modalities and system
Of a total of 131 seats in the Armenian National Assembly , 90 are allocated according to the proportional representation system, while the other 41 are filled according to the majority system via the constituencies. The threshold clause is 5% for parties and 7% for alliances, in this case the only alliance is the Armenian National Congress .
Participating parties
A total of 9 parties were registered to participate in the election:
- Blooming Armenia (BHK) - Gagik Zarukjan
- Heir - Raffi Hovannisian
- Armenian National Congress (HAK) - Levon Ter-Petrosyan
- Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) - Wahan Howhannisjan
- Democratic Party of Armenia - Aram Sargsyan
- Armenian Communist Party (HKK) - Ruben Towmasyan
- Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) - Serzh Sargsyan
- Party of United Armenians - Ruben Avagjan
- Land of Justice (OEK) - Arthur Baghdassarjan
Election campaign
Since there were protests by the opposition after the presidential elections of 2008 , there was an expectation in the run-up to the parliamentary elections, for example on the part of the European Union, that these would now take place according to democratic standards and without incident.
In the run-up to the election campaign, the Erbe party formed an alliance with the Free Democrats and in March 2012 put up a joint list as “heir”. The hot phase of the election campaign began in April, launched by ARF, Erbe and the Communist Party. Not only the opposition, but also the previous coalition partner BHK attacked the Republican Party sharply in the election campaign. The excessive power of the HHK and the lack of the rule of law were important issues. All parties, including the coalition parties, campaigned to “restore power to the people”. At the beginning of April, the opposition parties Erbe, HAK, ARF and the smaller ruling party Blooming Armenia founded an alliance to monitor elections and prevent electoral fraud. The HHK criticized this as an attempt at a provisional new government and shortly afterwards launched its own election observation initiative, to which it invited other parties. The week before the election, the opposition observation alliance filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court against laws prohibiting publication of which voters took part in the election. Publication could make the choice more transparent and make fraud more difficult. The court denied the lawsuit.
On the Saturday before the election, May 5, election campaign events were already banned, so that the end of the campaign took place on May 3 and 4. At the HHK event there was an incident in which hundreds of hydrogen-filled balloons went up in flames. 154 people were injured, 28 of them seriously.
In addition to the parties' two observation initiatives, various Armenian organizations were also registered for election observation. There were also several hundred observers from the OSCE and the CIS in the country.
Official result
| Political party | Party list | Constituency |
Total seats |
+/- | ||||
| be right | proportion of | Seats | Seats | proportion of | ||||
| Republican Party of Armenia | 664.440 | 44.02% | 40 | 30th | 73.1% |
70/131 |
+ 6 | |
| Blooming Armenia | 454.673 | 30.12% | 28 | 8th | 19.5% |
36/131 |
+ 11 | |
| Armenian National Congress | 106.903 | 7.08% | 7th |
7/131 |
+ 7 | |||
| Armenian Revolutionary Federation | 85,550 | 5.67% | 5 | 1 | 2.4% |
6/131 |
- 10 | |
| Land of law | 83.123 | 5.51% | 5 | 1 | 2.4% |
6/131 |
- 3 | |
| heritage | 86,998 | 5.76% | 5 |
5/131 |
- 2nd | |||
| Armenian Communist Party | 15,899 | 1.45% |
0/131 |
0 | ||||
| Democratic Party of Armenia | 5,577 | 0.37% |
0/131 |
0 | ||||
| Party of United Armenians | 2,945 | 0.20% |
0/131 |
0 | ||||
| Independent | 1 | 2.4% |
1/131 |
- 5th | ||||
| Invalid votes | 53,831 | - | - | - | - | |||
| total | 1,573,053 | 100.00% | 90 | 41 | 100.0% | 131 | - | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voters and turnout: | 2,523,101 | 62.35% | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Source: Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia (PDF file; 2.20 MB) | ||||||||
Evaluations of the election process
The Republican Party, which clearly won the election and was able to continue its government with an absolute majority, assessed the election as free and fair. Irregularities only occurred in 10% of the polling stations. The opposition, however, criticized the election process. A representative of the ARF named widespread bribery of voters by the HHK and authorities as the reason for the election result, as well as other irregularities. In addition to this allegation of voter bribery, expressed by several parties, voter lists were also falsified and the marking of voters was not permanent, which made multiple voting possible. The result does not reflect the will of the population. So there were demonstrations against the election result after the election.
The OSCE observers reported that the election campaign was free, almost non-violent and fair, in which all candidates were free to act and the media reported in a balanced manner. The new electoral law, which offers a good legal framework, was also praised. However, its poor implementation by the authorities and the general lack of trust in the election process are a heavy burden on the election. In the opinion of the observers, the handling of the electoral roll has not ensured that electoral fraud cannot take place. There were incidents in a large number of polling stations, triggered by individual actors from parties or, more rarely, the authorities. Overall, the voters were exposed to great pressure, with voters being highly aware of the democratic process. As a result, the election was ultimately not fair. The European Union welcomed the efforts of the Armenian authorities to ensure a transparent and competitive election and the diversity of the parties represented in parliament. Further efforts are needed to ensure that the elections meet democratic standards, even if progress has been made.
On May 18, 2012, the HAK lodged a complaint against the election result with the Constitutional Court with the aim of annulling the results of the proportional representation. On May 31, the court dismissed the complaint.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official result of parliamentary elections 2012 Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia (Armenian, English)
- ↑ Հայաստանի Հանրապետության կենտրոնական ընտրական հանձնաժողով ( Armenian ) Elections.am. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
- ↑ tatement by President Barroso Following his meeting with Mr Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia. europa.eu, accessed on April 28, 2018 (English).
- ^ "Heritage" and "Free democrats" presented a joint list. Times on March 19, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Vote 2012: Election campaign kicks off in Armenia. ArmeniaNow, April 12, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Vote 2012: Opposition, government create dual - and dueling - monitoring staffs. ArmeniaNow, April 6, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ^ Armenia's Constitutional Court to consider parties' claim day before elections. tert. on April 30, 2012, accessed on April 28, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Armenian Constitutional court refuses appeal of 28 MPs. news.am, accessed on April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Vote 2012: Campaign closes, “Day of Silence”, judgment day Sunday. ArmeniaNow, May 4, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Scores Injured As Balloon Blasts Spark Chaos At Armenian Election Rally. azatutyun.am, May 4, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Հոսպիտալացված 154 քաղաքացիներից 98-ը դեռևս հիվանդանոցներում են, որոնցից 28-ը ՝ վերակենդանացման բաժանմունքներում. ԱԻՆ (տեսանյութ). Retrieved April 28, 2018 (Armenian).
- ^ List of local election observation organizations. Retrieved April 28, 2018 (Armenian).
- ^ Sarkisian's Party Hails 'Unprecedented' Vote. azatutyun.am, May 7, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Armenian opposition bloc decries election fraud, says will pick parliament mandate. ArmeniaNow, May 8, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ^ Armenian elections competitive and largely peaceful, but shortcomings undermined confidence in the process, observers say. OSCE, May 7, 2012, accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Statement by High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Štefan Füle on the Parliamentary elections in Armenia on May 6, 2012. European Union, May 8, 2012, accessed on April 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Սահմանադրական դատարանը մերժեց ՀԱԿ-ի դիմումը. Retrieved April 28, 2018 (Armenian).