Parliamentary elections in Armenia have started  

ArmInfo.Parliamentary elections in Armenia started on April 2, at 8 am. These are the first elections after the constitutional reforms implying transition from the  semi-presidential to the parliamentary form of government.  

According to the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia, as many as  2009 polling stations opened in the republic at 8 am. The total  number of voters is 2 mln 564 thsd 795. 9 political forces run in the  elections: 4 blocs (Yelq, Tsarukyan, Ohanyan-Raffi- Oskanian and  Congress-PPA), and 5 parties (Republican Party of Armenia, Communist  Party, Free Democrats, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian Renaissance). 

1500 candidates are running under the rating-based system. 

49 local organizations (28 thsd observers) and 6 international  organizations (OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE PA, PACE, CIS, CIS PA and European  Parliament, with the total number of observers being 640) are  observing the elections.  

As many as 1244 reporters from 89 local media outlets and 80  representatives of 31 foreign media outlets have been accredited to  cover the elections. 

Advanced technologies will be applied during the elections -  identification cards, surveillance cameras - to minimize the possible  fraud risks. The list of those who went to the polling stations will  be publicized to prevent repeated voting.    

If the parliamentary elections are held in one round (this will  depend on whether a force or a bloc manages to form the majority),  the National Assembly will be comprised of 105 lawmakers - 101 from  political forces and 4 representatives of ethnic minorities.  50% of  the lawmakers will receive parliamentary seats based on the  preferential voting and 50% - on the proportional party lists. If the  second round is held (experts rule out such a possibility), the  number of the seats will be increased.