THOUSANDS PROTEST OVER ARMENIA ELECTION RESULT
By Margarita Antidze and Hasmik Lazarian

Reuters
20 Feb 2008 13:46:35 GMT

YEREVAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters gathered in
Armenia’s capital on Wednesday claiming a presidential election was
rigged to hand victory to Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan, but Western
observers called it broadly fair.

Sarksyan has promised to continue the policies of outgoing President
Robert Kocharyan, his close ally. The new leader’s biggest challenges
will be a simmering territorial conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan
and frozen ties with Turkey.

Sarksyan took 52.86 percent of the votes, the Central Election
Committee said, giving him enough to win outright in the the first
round.

Nearest rival Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia’s first president after
independence from the Soviet Union, had 21.5 percent.

"Yesterday’s presidential election in Armenia was conducted mostly
in line with the country’s international commitments," observers
from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
said in a statement.

"Further improvements are necessary to address remaining challenges,"
it added.

Earlier, Kocharyan congratulated 53-year-old Sarksyan on his victory
in what he called free and fair elections.

Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters though refused to recognise the result and
said they would protest until Sarksyan’s victory was overturned. They
said Tuesday’s vote was marred by ballot-stuffing and intimidation
of the opposition.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters gathered at a rally in central
Yerevan, chanting "Levon! Levon!" and "Serzh: leave!", a Reuters
reporter said.

They were preparing to march towards the Central Election Commission
building. Police kept their distance from the protesters.

"Once again we have had our usual shameful election," Ter-Petrosyan
told the crowd. "Once again crude force has committed an act of
violence against the will of the people."

"We will proceed calmly and with restraint, and with no doubt about
our ultimate victory," he said.

HISTORY OF CONVULSIONS

Previous elections in Armenia have been followed by days of opposition
protests alleging ballot fraud. A new round of protests will be a
test for stability in a country which, in the 1990s, was rocked by
political convulsions.

Armenia is squeezed between Turkey and Azerbaijan in a region that is
emerging as an important transit route for oil exports from the Caspian
Sea to world markets, though Armenia has no pipelines of its own.

Analysts say the unresolved conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan
over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh could flare again
into violence, possibly threatening a BP-led oil pipeline that runs
next to the conflict zone.

The first country in the world to adopt Christianity as the state
religion, Armenia also has fraught relations with Turkey, in part
because Ankara refuses to recognise as genocide the killings of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War One.

Kocharyan, who is also 53, is barred by the constitution from serving
a third consecutive term. He is expected to remain influential but
has refused to disclose what role he wants until his replacement
is inaugurated.

He and Sarksyan, both natives of Nagorno-Karabakh and veterans
of its 1990s separatist war there, are credited with overseeing a
period of double-digit economic growth after economic meltdown under
Ter-Petrosyan. (Writing by Christian Lowe, editing by Dominic Evans)