Armenian Prime Minister Sarkisian wins presidency

Thursday, February 21, 2008

YEREVAN – The Associated Press

Complete election returns showed that Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian has won Armenia’s presidential vote, the election commission chief said yesterday. The opposition claims the vote was rigged and several thousand supporters protested in the capital. Riot police were dispatched to the election commission headquarters.

A preliminary count of the ballots cast nationwide showed Sarkisian had nearly 53 percent of the vote in Tuesdays election, Central Election Commission chief Garegin Azarian said – enough to win outright and avoid a runoff. Top opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian had 21.5 percent, Azarian said.

Opposition claims fraud:

Ter-Petrosians backers have alleged widespread fraud, and a crowd that swelled to more than 15,000 gathered in a central Yerevan square near the Central Election Commission building to protest the results. The commission headquarters, a five-minute walk from the square, was cordoned off by metal barriers, and a few dozen helmeted riot police with truncheons stood guard. Police patrolled streets near the protest.

A senior Ter-Petrosian aide, Nikol Pashinian, urged the crowd to stand up for justice. “It would be a crime on our part to leave the country to this criminal regime,” Pashinian said.

Sarkisian was groomed by outgoing President Robert Kocharian and was widely expected to win, in part because of favorable media coverage and support from the state bureaucracy. He has also benefited from economic improvements in recent years.

Ter-Petrosian accused the authorities of resorting to ballot-stuffing, vote-buying and beating his activists who monitored the election. He asserted that he was actually the winner.

“These figures have nothing to do with reality, we are overwhelmingly ahead of them,” his spokesman, Arman Museian, said of the results announced by the election commission.

A candidate needed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Concerns over instability:

The allegations of fraud and threats of mass protests raised concerns over instability in the volatile, strategic country at the juncture of the energy-rich Caspian Sea region and southern Europe and bordering Iran.

“I have no doubt that the authorities have falsified the election and I will protest with all those who also feel cheated,” Simon Grigorian, a 38-year-old engineer, said at the protest.

Observers from a Moscow-led group of ex-Soviet republics as well as from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were monitoring the vote, and the OSCE was to release its assessment later Wednesday.

Sarkisian and Ter-Petrosian – Armenias first president after the 1991 Soviet collapse – were the two top contenders vying to lead the South Caucasus nation, where more than a quarter of its 3.2 million people live in poverty despite some economic progress in recent years.

The election campaign was dominated by the countrys economic revival and efforts to resolve the status of Nagorno-Karabakh – a mountainous region in neighboring Azerbaijan that has been under ethnic Armenian control since a cease-fire ended six years of fighting in 1994.

Kosovos declaration of independence from Serbia on Sunday added an element of uncertainty for Armenians, many of whom see clear analogies between Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian government says the region should be recognized as a sovereign state, while Azerbaijan says it will never cede its territory.

Armenia experienced an economic collapse after the Soviet breakup and in the face of blockades by Azerbaijan and its key ally Turkey.

The blockades have hamstrung Armenias economy and cut it out of lucrative regional energy and transport projects.

The U.S., whose large Armenian diaspora has a strong lobby in Congress, has poured some US$1.7 billion (1.15 billion) in aid into the country since 1991, encouraging economic and political liberalization.

Armenia is eligible for millions more in U.S. aid, but a questionable election could jeopardize Washington’s support.

News Source:  Turkish Daily News                                                                           21.02.2008