YEREVAN. – Armenia National Assembly elections have kicked off Sunday at 8am.

Tigran Mukuchyan, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), informed that there are 15,976 people involved in the election precinct commissions.

“This time voting at the polling centers is underway with the use of technical equipment for the first time,” noted the CEC chief. “As of 8am, the polling centers are open; the operation of the equipment also has begun.

“[But] a breaking down [of this equipment] was recorded in two precincts; elections [there] have begun with numbered coupons. They are trying to quickly fix the equipment.”

In Mukuchyan’s words, 650 international and about 28,000 local observers will oversee the elections, and members of the media were in attendance in around 92 percent of the election precincts.

Armenia is holding a parliamentary election for the first time since new Constitution was approved through a referendum in December 2015. The new National Assembly will have 105 deputies, four of whom—representatives of ethnic minorities.

A total of 2,009 election precincts are open all through the country. This voting will be the only national one in the next five years, as Armenia is transitioning to a parliamentary republic.

Five political parties and four blocs are running for parliament. Political parties have to get five percent of votes, whereas the blocs need seven percent to be elected to the National Assembly of Armenia.