Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Armenia will conduct nomination of candidates for presidency from December 25 to January 4, the central election body's head told Arka news agency on Saturday, Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported.

Presidential elections in Armenia will be held on February 18, 2013.

According to Central Election Commission (CEC) chairman Tigran Mukuchyan, candidates will registered from January 4 to 14, while the election campaign will begin on January 21 and end at midnight on February 16.

According to the approved schedule, voting tallies will be released on February 25.

Furthermore, per minute cost of airtime for candidates during the election campaign will be determined by December 18.

Mukuchyan also said that electronic voting will be organized for Armenian diplomats and their family members abroad.

In accordance with Armenia's constitution, presidential elections are held 50 days prior to the expiration of the president's term in office, and according to the Electoral Code, the head of the CEC is to announce the day of the presidential election no later than 70 days before voting.

Following the 2008 presidential election in Armenia, thousands of demonstrators protested for 10 days, saying the poll was rigged. The protests resulted in violent clashes that caused human casualties. Eight people were reportedly killed and 131 injured, including 33 law enforcers, during the clashes in the capital Yerevan.

A bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe harshly criticized Armenia's presidential election. John Prescott, head of the PACE ad hoc committee mission that observed the polling, said 28 people had died in post-election violence instead of eight as previously reported. Eight of them were killed on public squares where the protests took place, while 20 others passed away in hospitals afterwards.

During the beginning and the end of every election year in Armenia disturbances and violence occur in the country, with numerous protests taking the lives of demonstrators. These facts show failure of economic, social and democratic development in Armenia, as well as fiasco of its foreign policy following Soviet rule. And no prospect of a turning point in this respect is discerned.