In Armenia, imprisoned journalist registered as deputy candidate

In Armenia, on December 5, at the sitting of the Central Electoral Committee (CEC), a decision was made to register the inmate Nikol Pashinyan, an activist of the opposition and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Armenian Time", accused of organizing mass disorders on March 1, 2008, as a candidate for deputy.

On January 10, 2010, the electoral constituency No. 10 of Yerevan will hold election of a deputy of the National Assembly. The position remains vacant for the last two months, after another opposition activist - businessman Khachatur Sukiasyan - refused from his mandate.

Other candidates, apart from Nikol Pashinyan, include: Ara Simonyan from the "National Unification" Party, David Akopyan from the Marxist Party of Armenia and Amayak Ovannisyan, Chairman of the Association of Armenian Political Scientists. The latter promised to recall his candidature in favour of Pashinyan directly ob the eve of the election.