How much does it cost to hold an election? 

The chairman of the Central Electoral Commission announced for the first time today about the expenses during the snap elections. Tigran Mukuchyan stated that 460 million AMD will be spent on printing ballots. In case of participation of 26 parties, about 70 million ballots will be printed.

Violations of election regulations

• Today the "Independent Observer" bloc reported to the RA Prosecutor General regarding the case of forgery of a document by Mihran Poghosyan (or his representative). To obtain a reference confirming that he was permanently living in Armenia, Mihran Poghosyan falsified a diploma "0089-ОД" of Moscow Polytechnic University and a fake document "No. 1427" of the same university. 
• Another case was related to suspicions of electoral bribery. A video was spread on social networks according to which the "Prosperous Armenia" party is allegedly distributing election bribes. The RA Prosecutor's Office has sent the video to the RA Police for research.

• The court session on Robert Kocharyan vs CEC started today. The CEC representatives were absent. Tigran Mukuchyan, the head of CEC, noted that the reason for missing the court session was overloaded employment. 

The comparative social classification of candidates based on their current occupations

Independent media tried to analyze and present socio-economic characteristics of the parties' and blocs' candidates running in the parliamentary elections. Below are a few of them:

• There are 156 MP candidates in the "Armenia" bloc, 11 of them are state employees, the majority are heads of local autonomous bodies. There are 22 businessmen and 24 unemployed. 
• In the 161-member list of the "Civil Contract" there are 60 MPs, 71 state employees, 15 unemployed and 4 businessmen.
• There are 230 candidates in the "I have the honor" bloc's list,  25 of them are from the business sphere. The total number of unemployed is 83. There is one MP on the list, Taguhi Tovmasyan, who left "My Step" faction. 14 are state employees.
• "Bright Armenia" has 107 candidates. 20 of them are unemployed, 13 of them are Members of the National Assembly and 7 are state employees. There are at least 20 people from the business sphere.
• The Armenian National Congress has 101 candidates. 35 of the candidates are unemployed, 13 are from the business sphere. There is one civil servant on the list.
• There are 17 unemployed in the electoral list of "Citizen's Decision" party. 3 people are from the business sphere and 1 candidate is from the state system. The party has 84 candidates.
• The "I have the honor" [Pativ unem] bloc is the only one among political forces participating in the election, which has nominated the most candidates.  It has 230 candidates.

The activity of the pre-election campaign is becoming intense day by day

Almost all of the leaders of the parties participating in snap elections are actively holding meetings in Yerevan and in the regions. 

• Today the prime minister and the leader of Civic Contract party Nikol Pashinyan has had several meetings in the Ararat Region. He uncovered for the public some piece of the pre-election program.  The complete program will be presented after the official date of the election campaign.
• Today at the RPA headquarters, Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the party and the third President of the Republic of Armenia, received the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Armenia Nicholas Schmermers. Serzh Sargsyan presented in detail the main directions of the pre-election program of the "I have the honor" [Pativ unem] bloc. The "I have the honor" bloc is the first among the political forces of Armenia to organize a visit to Artsakh at the level of the candidate for prime minister. It is a clear message to our brothers and sisters in Artsakh that Artsakh cannot be left alone by Armenia.