Ruling party leads Armenia vote

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/6650789.stm

Published: 2007/05/13 06:46:49 GMT

The ruling Republican Party and other pro-government parties are set to win
Armenia’s parliamentary election, amid allegations of fraud by the
opposition.
Results from two-thirds of polling stations showed Prime Minister Serzh
Sarksyan’s party was well ahead with 288,431 votes, election officials said.
Opposition groups said Saturday’s vote was falsified and have called for mass
demonstrations in the capital, Yerevan.
Armenian officials have insisted the election was calm, positive and lawful.

This is Armenia’s fourth election since it gained independence in 1991.
Foreign monitors said the last poll, in 2003, did not meet democratic
standards.
Ahead of the vote, Western countries warned of serious consequences if
Armenia did not improve this record.
More than $200m of US development aid and the prospect of closer links with
the European Union could be at risk if the polls are condemned as unfair.
‘Grossly falsified’
Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission announced on Sunday turnout had been
almost 60%, higher than in the country’s last election.

This has been one of the worst elections possible
Law-Governed Country Party spokesman

Preliminary results from 1,274 out of 1,923 polling stations showed Mr
Sarksyan’s Republican Party was in the lead.
The pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party was second with 129,683 votes,
followed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a former member of the
ruling coalition, with 115,410.
Opposition groups were far behind, with the Law-Governed Country Party of
former parliamentary speaker Artur Baghdasaryan winning 53,599 votes and the
Heritage Party gaining 31,678.
A spokesman for the Law-Governed Country Party said the results reflected the
widespread electoral fraud his party had witnessed.
"I fear these elections were grossly falsified," Tigran Lazarian told the
AFP news agency.
"This has been one of the worst elections possible."
"Some pro-government parties were giving bribes of between 4,000 and 20,000
drams ($11-56) right in front of polling stations."

Mr Lazarian said the opposition would organise mass demonstrations in
Yerevan on Sunday to attempt to overturn the results.
Large protests after the country’s last disputed election were broken up by
police and the authorities have already warned they will not tolerate unrest.
The chairman of the electoral commission, Garegin Azaryan, denied the
allegations of fraud.
"We can say that we had a positive election," Mr Azaryan said.
"The election was held in a calm atmosphere and in compliance with the law."
International observers, including the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, will issue a report on the election later on Sunday.