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Early Results Put Sarkisian's Party on Course for Victory |
7 May 2012Armenia's Central Election Commission said that with some three-quarters of ballots counted, President Serzh Sarkisian's governing Republican party is on course for victory in parliamentary elections, winning nearly 45 percent of the vote.
The commission said the junior partner in the country's current governing coalition, the Prosperous Armenia party, came in second with just under 31 percent.
The opposition Armenian National Congress was in third with less than 7 percent but looks set to clear the 5 percent vote threshold for representation in parliament.
A number of parties competing against Sarkisian's Republicans have already cried foul.
Speaking at a joint news conference held shortly before the release of the first official figures late on May 6, senior representatives of the Prosperous Armenia party, the Armenian National Congress, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation brushed aside as “extremely incredible” the election commission's claim that more than 62 percent of Armenia’s eligible voters took part in the elections, accusing the authorities of grossly inflating the turnout.
In a joint statement, they said that figure is “only deepening suspicions regarding the legal course of the elections.”
Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabian condemned the elections as "disgraceful" and marred by vote-rigging. He said his party and other opposition forces would proceed with a planned rally on May 8 in the capital's Liberty Square.
The Armenian National Congress is led by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian.
Around 2.5 million people in the country of 3.3 million were eligible to vote in the elections, which were contested by eight parties and one bloc.
Unemployment, Poverty, Emigration
Some 350 international election monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are in Armenia.
Campaigning mainly focused on unemployment, poverty, and emigration rather than Armenia's disputes with neighboring Azerbaijan.
The government had promised an orderly election for the 131-seat National Assembly, hoping to avoid any turmoil like the incidents of 2008, when battles between riot police and opposition supporters left 10 people dead.
Russian Central Election Commission member Siyabshakh Shapiyev, who is observing the vote, was quoted earlier on May 6 as saying that voting had been proceeding smoothly and that no violations had been observed.
On May 4, the last day of the election campaign, scores of gas-filled balloons exploded at a Republican party rally in Yerevan led by Sarkisian, unleashing a fireball into the air and injuring around 150 people.
The OSCE said Armenia's 2007 parliamentary ballot fell short of international standards.
Journalist Attacked
In related news, RFE/RL correspondent Elina Chilingarian was attacked by a young man outside a polling station in the Armenian capital.
The man approached Chilingarian while she was videotaping busloads of people arriving to vote in the southern Erebuni district of Yerevan on May 6.
The video shows the man approach the reporter. He asks Chilingarian if she is filming him, before knocking the camera out of her hands.
A police complaint has been filed and the matter is now under investigation.
Chilingarian was not hurt in the incident. |
7 May 2012
RFE/RL
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