This article by Global Voices Caucasus Regional Editor was first published by Caucasus Analytical Digest No 39: Parliamentary Elections in Armenia and is posted by permission. Abstract Following a bitterly disputed presidential election in February 2008, parliamentary elections held on 6 May 2012 were a crucial test for Armenia’s fledgling democratic process. In particular, with 280,340 Facebook users in the country, or 9.45 percent of the population, there has also been much speculation about the role social media can play in that process, not least since the 2011 Middle East and North Africa uprisings. How­ever, despite some notable examples of the use of Facebook to mobilize citizens on non-politicized issues in recent years, the role of social media in the 6 May 2012 parliamentary elections was limited. Nevertheless, online tools did prove viable as a new medium for registering and reacting to reported electoral violations and other problems. Background Despite Armenia’s poor economy, exacerbated by the global economic crisis, and a GDP per capita of $5,400 in 2011, Internet penetration continues to increase. Even so, data from the 2010 Caucasus Barometer from the Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) indi­cates that only 19 percent of Armenians go online every day. Although data from CRRC’s 2011 household sur­vey shows that figure increasing further, a staggering 60 percent of the population had never accessed the Internet at all in 2010. Moreover, early data from the 2011 Caucasus Barometer reports that just 7 percent of Armenians use Facebook, compared to 18 percent using other social networking sites. Socialbakers, in compar­ison, instead puts the figure for Facebook penetration at 9.45 percent. Whatever the figure, following the last presidential election, international donors have become increasingly interested in funding online projects, and not least since the state of emergency following the 1 March 2008 post-election clashes which left 10 people dead. With a media blackout imposed on the country for 20 days, blogs were not affected by the emergency situation even though sites such as Radio Free Europe and You­Tube were temporarily blocked. Indeed, some observ­ers likened their role during the post-election environ­ment to that of samizdat during the Soviet era. At that time, the heavily polarized political environment on the ground was replicated in cyberspace with pro-govern­ment bloggers also spreading information against the opposition or posting updates supportive of the newly elected president. Since 2008, online social networking sites such as Facebook have arguably changed the situation fur­ther, rapidly taking over from blogs as the main online medium for sharing news, opinion and information. Attempts last year by the opposition in Armenia to stage its own post-MENA protests calling for fresh parlia­mentary and presidential elections illustrated that only too well. Encouraged by protests in Tunisia and Egypt, the opposition also declared that it would stage a “Face­book Revolution” in Armenia, but few signed up to the various Facebook pages set up to attract support. Even so, the numbers taking to the streets were significantly higher, with some demonstrations attracting as many as 15,000 people. Most definitely not a Facebook-organized protest, it highlighted that traditional activism remains the main way to engage the population. Non-Political On-Line Engagement Of arguably more importance, however, is how Face­book has empowered at least some of those in-between the polarized government and opposition camps. As an example, the most successful use of social media to date has been alongside traditional campaigns to engage cit­izens in non-politicized, i.e. non-opposition, activism in general. Mobile phone videos posted on YouTube depicting the bullying of pupils by teachers in state-run schools resulted in changes in the education sys­tem, for example, and throughout 2010, in much publi­cized incidents, hazing in the Armenian military caused outrage among many citizens, and especially those using Facebook. Online campaigns to prevent the demolition of a Soviet-era open-air cinema to make room for the construction of a church, as well as another campaign to protest the introduction of foreign language schools in Armenia, also attracted support crossing party-lines more so than any actions staged by the opposition. The previous Yerevan mayor also took to Facebook, with some serious discussions occurring online about the municipality’s policies, such as the shooting of stray dogs on the streets of the Armenian capital.