ARMENIA’S SARKISIAN CALLED WINNER
By Maria Danilova
Associated Press Writer
02/20/2008 03:04:00 AM PST
YEREVAN, Armenia–Some 7,000 opposition supporters protested in
Armenia’s capital Wednesday as officials said an initial ballot count
showed that the prime minister had won the presidential election
outright.
Riot police were dispatched to the election commission headquarters,
while police patrolled streets near the protest, where demonstrators
claimed that the Tuesday vote was rigged.
The allegations of fraud and threats of mass protests have raised
concerns about the stability of the volatile, strategic country,
located at the juncture of the energy-rich Caspian Sea region and
southern Europe and bordering Iran.
A preliminary count of all ballots showed Prime Minister Serge
Sarkisian had nearly 53 percent of the vote, Central Election
Commission chief Garegin Azarian said–enough to avoid a runoff. Top
opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian had 21.5 percent, Azarian
said.
Ter-Petrosian supporters gathered in a central Yerevan square near the
election commission building to protest. The commission headquarters,
a five-minute walk from the square, were cordoned off by metal barriers
and a few dozen helmeted riot police with truncheons stood guard.
"I have no doubt that the authorities have falsified the election
and I will protest with all those who also feel cheated," said Simon
Grigorian, a 38-year-old engineer.
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
recent economic improvements.
The president is the country’s top leader, holding more power than
the prime minister.
Ter-Petrosian accused the authorities of resorting to ballot-stuffing,
vote buying and beating his activists who monitored the election. His
side has 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.
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–Armenia’s 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 country’s 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.
Kosovo’s 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,
which is outraged by efforts to win international recognition of the
killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the World War
I-era as genocide.
The blockades have hamstrung Armenia’s 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 $1.7 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.