YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) registered 16,000 local observers and 31 NGOs to monitor the parliamentary elections, CEC head Tigran Mukuchyan said on Saturday.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 6 in Armenia. The legislative body has 131 MP seats. The Parliament is formed on 90 seats of proportional and 41 seats on majoritarian system.

Eight political parties and one bloc 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.