December 10, 2019 - 15:25 AMT
IRI: 55% of Armenians say would to vote for ruling party

A new nationwide poll of Armenia by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research shows that 55% of Armenians would vote for the ruling My Step party if national parliamentary elections were held next Sunday.

Data was collected throughout Armenia between September 20 and October 13, 2019, through face-to-face interviews in respondents’ homes. The sample consisted of 1,200 permanent residents of Armenia older than the age of 18 and eligible to vote. It is representative of the general population by age, gender and region.

19% would cast their votes for Prosperous Armenia, 6% for Bright Armenia, 4% for the Republican Party of Armenia, and only 3% for Dashnaktsutyun/Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

At the same time, 59% of respondents said they would never vote for the Republicans, and 17% and 11% said they would not prefer Dashnaktsutyun and My Step, respectively.

Interest in politics among the public has dwindled in the past year, dropping from 40% highly interested citizens in 2018 to just 19% in 2019.

The study shows strong support for the government’s anti-corruption efforts and an optimistic view of the country’s trajectory.

66% said they think that the government is doing enough to fight corruption (up from 59% in 2018), and 70% think that the fight has been effective.

25% said, however, corruption has had a negative impact on them in the past 12 months.

According to the survey, institutions providing medical services and courts have the highest level of corruption, with 20% and 14% of respondents giving a positive response, respectively.