The political parties are preparing for the early parliamentary elections set for December 9 with the deadline for registration of the parties and political blocs expiring on November 14.

A new alliance called “We” (Menk) was formed on Saturday after the Republic and Free Democrats parties decided to join forces for the early elections.

Meanwhile, former ruling Republican Party of Armenia held a meeting on Sunday to decide on its participation in the early vote. Former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan will head the RPA proportional list. Chairman of the party and ex-president Serzh Sargsyan will not run in the elections.

Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the World War I Armistice.

The Acting Prime Minister and his spouse Anna Hakobyan joined the heads of state, government and international organizations participating in the events in Paris.

 Pashinyan also attended the Paris Peace Conference.

Numerous reports were received Sunday from Armenian drivers, who said there was a several kilometer-long line up of vehicles at the Upper Lars highway between Georgia and Russia, until the Russian border.

Armenia’s ministry of transport said  that there is an about 2km buildup of vehicles from Russia toward Georgia, and the main cause for this buildup is the trucks transporting grain.

According to the information received, one-fifth of the vehicles in this queue is from Armenia.

A memorial service for the legendary Armenian weightlifter Yuri Vardanyan took place in his native city of Gyumri on Monday.

The weightlifter will be buried in the Komitas pantheon on November 12. The 62-year-old athlete died in U.S. on November 2.

Newly crowned world weightlifting champion Simon Martirosyan and silver medalist Gor Minasyan on Monday returned home from Turkmenistan where the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships were held, and together with the rest of the Armenian national team.

At the airport, people were waiting for the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalists with great fanfare.