YEREVAN. - Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) gains votes while opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) loses them and is in a critical situation, the head of Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM) Valery Fedorov announced at a press conference in Yerevan on Friday, commenting on a question that according to some information from the Russian Media ANC is financially dependent from PAP and how that affects ANC.

According to Fedorov, both ANC and PAP are competing for the votes of the protesting electorate thus they are competing for the votes of the same group, and one of the parties gains as many votes as thr other loses.

“If ANC does not criticize PAP, it is very good for PAP, but it is bad for ANC. If ANC were to criticize PAP and PAP criticize ANC, that would be good and the party which has a more active information campaign will attract more voters,” Fedorov said.

According to him, if ANC continues this way it might not enter parliament at all.

Eight political parties and one block have presented their nominations – Republican Party of Armenian, Prosperous Armenia Party, Orinats Yerkir, opposition Armenian National Congress, opposition Heritage Party, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the Communist Party of Armenia, Democratic Party of Armenia and United Armenians Party.

For entering the National Assembly, parties must poll over 5% of votes, while blocks - over 7%.

The election campaign will be held till May 5 - the day prior to elections when campaigning is banned. The parliamentary elections will be held from 8 am to 8 pm on May 6, 2012.