The Central Election Commission of Armenia has published a report on the updated rules for the parliamentary election scheduled for June 7.
Medianews.az reports that according to the new requirement, parties must collect at least 4 percent of valid votes to enter the parliament formed by the proportional system.
The threshold for blocs consisting of two parties is 8 percent, and for blocs consisting of three or more parties it is 10 percent.
Parties must place an election deposit of 7.5 million drams, blocs 15 million drams for registration.
The term of the legislative body consisting of at least 101 people is 5 years. No bloc or party can receive more than two-thirds of the mandates.
The government is formed based on the results of the parliamentary election. For this, at least 52 percent of the parliamentary mandates are required. The party or bloc that wins the most mandates is given 9 days to form a coalition.
The current legislative body elected in 2021 has 107 members. The Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party has 69 mandates in the parliament, the opposition forces – the Armenia bloc associated with former president Robert Kocharyan – have 28, the "I Am Proud" bloc associated with former president Serj Sargsyan has 6 mandates. Four deputies are non-partisan.
Nikol Pashinyan, born in 1975, founded the Civil Contract Party in 2013. In 2017, the "Way Out" bloc created by this organization together with two other parties won 9 mandates in the parliament.
Since March 31, 2018, Nikol Pashinyan has led the popular movement against the intention of the Armenian president Serj Sargsyan to become prime minister. On April 9, Serj Sargsyan’s presidential powers ended. On that day, since the country switched to a parliamentary system of governance, the executive power was transferred to the prime minister. On April 17, Serj Sargsyan took the prime minister’s office, but he resigned on April 23, unable to withstand public protests.
Since May 8, Nikol Pashinyan took over as prime minister.
In the snap parliamentary election held on December 9 the same year, Nikol Pashinyan’s "My Step" bloc won, and in the snap parliamentary election held on June 20, 2021, the Civil Contract Party won.