Sharjah24 – AFP: Armenians head to the polls Sunday in early parliamentary elections which were called in an attempt to heal the country's divisions after a disastrous war with Azerbaijan, but could spark post-election protests.
Reformist Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has lost much of his lustre after a military defeat last year to arch foe Azerbaijan, is hoping to renew his mandate but is in a tight race with former president Robert Kocharyan.
During an aggressive campaign marred by polarising rhetoric, Pashinyan said he expected his Civil Contract party to secure 60 percent of the vote, though some pollsters say those estimates are far-fetched.
The election in the South Caucasus country of around three million people will be watched by Armenia's Soviet-era master Russia as well as Turkey, which backed Azerbaijan in last year's six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Political observers say the election result is hard to predict with many voters still undecided and both Pashinyan and Kocharyan drawing massive crowds in the final days of the race.
Besides Kocharyan, who hails from Karabakh and was in power between 1998 and 2008, two other leaders of post-Soviet Armenia are backing parties in the race. All three are in opposition to Pashinyan.
A venomous campaign saw candidates exchange insults and threats and both frontrunners are expected to stage demonstrations after the election.
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