At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Armenia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Robert KOCHARIAN
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Andranik MARGARYAN
• Assembly: Armenia has a unicameral National Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov) with 131 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the National Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov), 75 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 56 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.

Main Candidates in the First Round of the Presidential race:

• Robert N KOCHARIA*
  • Party: Independent
• Stepan DEMIRTCHIAN*
  • Party: Peoples Party of Armenia
• Artashes GERHAMIAN
  • Party: National Unity Party
• Aram KARAPETIAN
  • Party: Independent
• Vazgen MANOUKIAN
  • Party: National Democratic Union
• Ruben AVAGIAN
  • Party: Miaorvats Aier Party
• Aram SARGSIAN
  • Party: Democratic Party
• Garnik MARGARIAN
  • Party: Motherland and Dignity
• Aram HAROUTYUNIAN
  • Party: National Accord Party

* Robert N KOCHARIA and Stepan DEMIRTCHIAN advanced to a runoff election held on March 5, 2003.

Last Presidential election:

• The last presidential election was held on March 16, 1998, with a second round held on March 30th. In the second round, KOCHARIAN won the presidency by securing 59.5% of the votes cast while opponent Karen DEMIRCHYAN secured 40.5% of the votes.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,339,099 (July 2002 est.)
• Registered Voters: 2,315,410 ( 2003 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,580,359 (2003)

·         Is Armenia a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Armenia ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (13 September 1993)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 6 (2003)

·         Human Development Index Position: 85 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: High (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Armenia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Armenia ratified CRPD: Yes (22 September 2010)

·         Population with a disability: 500,864 (est.)