The approval rating of Armenia’s ruling My Step bloc, which is led by acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, dropped by 4.5% within just a month, two separate surveys conducted by Gallup International in March and April reveal, reports PanArmenian.
31.7% of respondents said in late March – and 27.2% in late April – that they would vote for Pashinyan’s bloc if elections were held next Sunday, Gallup said.
Support for ex-President Robert Kocharyan, meanwhile, grew over the one-month period – from 5.9% to 8.1%.
All the other relatively major political forces lost ground as well, according to the survey. Prosperous Armenia’s rating fell from 4.4% to 3.7%, as did those of Bright Armenia (from 2.7% to 1.8%), the Republican Party (from 2.4% to 1.1%) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun (from 2.1% to 1.8%).
On the other side, more people said they are going to participate in elections – up from 41.2% to 48.3% in April, Gallup said.
Pashinyan announced on March 18 that Armenia will hold snap parliamentary elections on June 20. The PM came under fire after signing a statement with the Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh almost 45 days after the start of the military hostilities. Under the deal, the Armenian side was forced to return all the seven regions surrounding Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.