Armenia’s incumbent Serzh Sargsyan got 61% of votes topping electoral rating: VCIOM

YEREVAN, February 5. /ARKA/. The incumbent president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, tops the presidential election race rating gaining 61% of votes, according to the research by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) made in Armenia.

“The gap between Raffi Hovannisian, rated the second, and the other candidates is huge. Thus, Hovannisian got 27% of votes, whereas Paruyr Hayrikyan –5%, Hrant Bagratyan—4%, Aram Harutyunyan-1%, and others gained less than 1%. Moreover, 25% of the surveyed constituents are still not sure whom to vote for at the upcoming elections,” VCIOM reported to ARKA. 

Most of the surveyed constituents who will go to the polling stations to vote for their candidates said they are  quite confident with their choice (86%). Serzh Sargsyan supporters were among the first surveyed respondents to announce their preference (94%). 

Half of the surveyed voters stated Serzh Sargsyan would win the fair elections (47%), and only 28% said they saw   Raffi Hovannisian as the next president. Only 3% of the surveyed voters named the other candidates.

According to the majority of the surveyed constituents, the winner will be announced in the first round (77%). The respondents also said in case the elections flew in the second round, the race will be led by the two candidates—Serzh Sargsyan (81%) and Raffi Hovannisian (69%). Some 10% of respondents, however, named Paruyr Hayrikyan to compete in the second round, and 9% —Hrant Bagratyan. 

Most of respondents said they assess positively the campaign programs of Raffi Hovannisian (79%, checked out by 68%) and Serzh Sargsyan (74%, checked out by 65%). 

The research showed the two-third of the surveyed residents of Armenia are not pleased with the current situation in the country (64%), and 57% of respondents said the situation is deteriorating. 

The biggest issue of the country is unemployment rate, according to 50% of the respondents, 31% of which call on the government to solve the issue.

“Some 56% of the surveyed residents assess the performance of the incumbent as positive. The prime minister gets support from less people, 42%, and the government—37%. The activity of the regional and local authorities is highly assessed,” according to the source.

VCIOM also reported 75% of Armenia’s residents are aware of the country’s socio-political life, of them 81% are old people. The fourth of the surveyed respondents show no interest in socio-political situation in Armenia (25%): mainly young people—35%. 

The most important event in socio-political life of Armenia is an election campaign, 12% of the respondents said. Another 10% think the presidential elections top the list of the most important socio-political events. Less interest is reported in the National Assembly and local administrations elections.  

VCIOM said 95% of the respondents are aware of the upcoming presidential elections quite well, and 4% said they had heard something about it. 

The most popular candidates are the incumbent Serzh Sargsyan (99%), Raffi Hovannisian and Paruyr Hayrikyan (97% each). They are followed by Hrant Bagratyan (86%), Aram Harutyunyan (66%). Less popular candidates are Andrias Ghukasyan (44%), Arman Melikyan (43%), Vardan Sedrakyan (42%). 

The research states 76% of respondents said they would vote on February 18. Of them 26% said they are motivated to go to the polling stations on that day in order to fulfill their civil duty. 

VCIOM research was made in Armenia from 25 to 29 January. Total of 1,624 residents have been surveyed. The margin of error is not higher than 2.5%.  

Russian Public Opinion Research center is Russia’s oldest and leading opinion research company.

It was established in 1987, and two years later it was re-registered as a state unitary enterprise. In 1999 the center was awarded a status of a scientific establishment. In 2003 VCIOM was reformatted into an OSJC where the State holds 100% of the stock. 

VCIOM conducts the "full cycle" research - from instrument design and data collection to analysis and presentation of results to the clients, in Russia and abroad in the following fields: politics (electoral and approvement ratings, protest activity, etc..), social (education, employment, health care, family, corruption, etc…), business (inance and insurance, real estate and construction, trademarks, branding and reputation management, IT, media research, sports industry, automobile market, etc…). 

VCIOM coordinators are the members of ESOMAR –International association in market and public research.

Armenia’s presidential elections are scheduled for February 18. Eight nominees are running for presidency: current president Serzh Sargsyan, former prime minister and leader of Freedom party Hrant Bagratyan, former foreign minister and head of Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian, famous Soviet dissident and leader of National Self-Determination party Paruyr Hayrikyan, former  foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan, political scientist and head of Radio Hay Andrias Ghukasyan, philologist Vardan Sedrakyan and leader of National Consent party Aram Harutyunyan. -0-