About half of respondents in Armenia indicate presence of political prisoners in country - poll

ArmInfo. About half of respondents in Armenia indicate the presence of political prisoners in the country. This is evidenced by the results of the survey "In Nikol ?  Veritas" conducted by the MPG consulting company (Marketing Professional Group - the exclusive representative of the International Association GALLUP in Armenia).

Thus, 49.2% of those polled consider that there are political prisoners in Armenia, another 30.7% - that there are no political prisoners in the country, another 20.1% found it difficult to answer.  46.2% of respondents consider RPA Deputy Chairman Armen Ashotyan as a political prisoner, 24% of respondents mentioned  Chairman of the "Public Voice" party Artak Galstyan as a political prisoner, another 20% mentioned new elected Mayor of Vanadzor Mamikon Aslanyanas a political prisoner, 39% - found it difficult to answer, 3.1% - gave a different answer.

Moreover, in the course of a survey conducted between June 10 and 27, 2020, answering the same question, only 23.8% of respondents said that there are political prisoners in the country, another 39.1% found it difficult to answer, and 37.1% said that that there are no political prisoners in the country. At the same time, 16.4% of respondents consider the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan a political prisoner, another 3.4% - consider the former head of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, General Manvel Grigoryan as a political prisoner, another 2.1% - the head of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan. At the same time, 78.2% refused or found it difficult to give a name.

At the same time, when asked whether Ashotyan's arrest was the result of his active criticism of Nikol Pashinyan and the current authorities, 24% answered unequivocally yes, another 17.1% answered rather yes, 12.9% rather no, 19.8% definitely no, another 26 % found it difficult to answer.  When asked what force they will vote for in the upcoming elections in September, 10% of respondents said for the ruling "Civil Contract" represented by Tigran Avinyan, 8.2% - will vote for the former mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan, 5.3% - for the son of the second president of the Republic of Armenia - Levon Kocharyan, represented by the Hayastan bloc, 4.5% will vote for the RPA, Artak Galstyan from the Public Voice party also entered the TOP-5 (3.2%).

It is noteworthy that 16.4% answered that they would not vote for anyone, 13.5% - will not take part in the elections, another 30.2% found it difficult to answer.

It should be noted that the survey was conducted through telephone calls to residents of Armenia from June 21 to June 24 of this year.  The sample size was 1100, the sampling error was  3%. In 2011, MPG became the official representative of the Gallup International Association in Armenia- one of the most prestigious and independent public opinion organizations in the world. Since 2003, MPG, working in the sociological and marketing research market, has implemented more than 800 projects of various sizes.