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Chicago Tribune, IL
May 5 2012
Factbox: Armenia's parliamentary election
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia votes on Sunday in a parliamentary
election. Here are some key facts about the former Soviet republic and
main contenders in the upcoming election.
MAIN CONTENDERS IN ELECTION: President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican
Party, the Prosperous Armenia party led by businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan, the Armenian National Congress - a diverse coalition of
radical opposition groups led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan,
the Dashnaktsutiun Party, the Country of Law Party; the moderate
opposition Heritage Party.
Opinion polls show the Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia will
win more than 60 percent of the votes between them, signaling little
or no change in government.
Eight parties and one party bloc are registered for the proportional
component of the election, and 155 candidates are registered in the 41
single-mandate constituencies.
OBSERVERS - More than 300 international observers from the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as well as
about 25,000 local observers will monitor the poll.
KEY FACTS
POPULATION - 3.3 million as of May 2012, according to the National
Statistics Service. Central Election Commission says there are about
2.5 million eligible voters in the country.
GEOGRAPHY - Landlocked, bordering Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and
Turkey, Armenia covers an area of 29,800 square km (11,500 square
miles). The capital is Yerevan.
Armenia is locked in a dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan over the
tiny region of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which they fought a war in the
1990s.
Armenia also has fraught relations with Turkey, in part because Ankara
does not recognize as genocide the killing of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey during World War One.
ECONOMY - The Armenian economy grew 4.6 percent in 2011, recovering
from the 2008-09 global crisis, which resulted in a 14.2 percent
contraction in 2009. The IMF forecasts 3.8 percent growth in 2012.
Inflation fell to 4.7 percent in 2011 from 9.4 percent in 2010, while
the fiscal deficit fell below 3 percent in 2011 from 8 percent in
2009.
(Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Louise Ireland)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-armenia-election-profilebre8440d2-20120505,0,1777376.story
May 5 2012
Factbox: Armenia's parliamentary election
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia votes on Sunday in a parliamentary
election. Here are some key facts about the former Soviet republic and
main contenders in the upcoming election.
MAIN CONTENDERS IN ELECTION: President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican
Party, the Prosperous Armenia party led by businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan, the Armenian National Congress - a diverse coalition of
radical opposition groups led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan,
the Dashnaktsutiun Party, the Country of Law Party; the moderate
opposition Heritage Party.
Opinion polls show the Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia will
win more than 60 percent of the votes between them, signaling little
or no change in government.
Eight parties and one party bloc are registered for the proportional
component of the election, and 155 candidates are registered in the 41
single-mandate constituencies.
OBSERVERS - More than 300 international observers from the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as well as
about 25,000 local observers will monitor the poll.
KEY FACTS
POPULATION - 3.3 million as of May 2012, according to the National
Statistics Service. Central Election Commission says there are about
2.5 million eligible voters in the country.
GEOGRAPHY - Landlocked, bordering Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and
Turkey, Armenia covers an area of 29,800 square km (11,500 square
miles). The capital is Yerevan.
Armenia is locked in a dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan over the
tiny region of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which they fought a war in the
1990s.
Armenia also has fraught relations with Turkey, in part because Ankara
does not recognize as genocide the killing of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey during World War One.
ECONOMY - The Armenian economy grew 4.6 percent in 2011, recovering
from the 2008-09 global crisis, which resulted in a 14.2 percent
contraction in 2009. The IMF forecasts 3.8 percent growth in 2012.
Inflation fell to 4.7 percent in 2011 from 9.4 percent in 2010, while
the fiscal deficit fell below 3 percent in 2011 from 8 percent in
2009.
(Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Louise Ireland)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-armenia-election-profilebre8440d2-20120505,0,1777376.story