Kommersant, Russia
Feb. 26, 2008

Armenian Opposition Awaiting Victory

The Central Elections Commission of Armenia announced the official
results of the presidential election in that country this weekend and
declared former prime minister Serzh Sarkisyan the winner with 52.82
percent of the vote. Opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan
officially received 21.5 percent of the vote. The opposition
continues to protest and the government is taking extreme measures to
prevent officials from going over to the other side.
On Friday, seven members of the Armenian parliament from the from the
governing faction announced their support for presidential candidate
Levon Ter-Petrosyan at a public meeting on Theater Square in Yerevan.
They cited a `massive falsification of votes’ for their decisions.
Deputy Prosecutor General of Armenia Gagik Dzhangiryan stated at the
same time that he had `never seen such massive falsification as in
the elections on February 19.’ Dzhangiryan was the investigator of
the terrorist shooting that took place in the Armenian parliament on
October 27, 1999, that was discontinued under government pressure.
Responsibility for the terrorist act was place firmly on the
authorities at that meeting.

On the same day, deputy speaker of the parliament Vaan Ovannisyan
resigned because of his objections to the voting results and several
deputy foreign ministers and ambassadors also declared their support
for the opposition by resigning simultaneously. Another six foreign
ministry officials resigned the following day. Ter-Petrosyan has been
present at the meetings and in the tent city.

Sarkisyan stated on Friday that law enforcement agencies `should
carefully examine all facts connected with violations of voting
legislation.’ However, current Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
then appeared on all local television channels and accused the
opposition of creating a schism and destabilizing society.
Dzhangiryan was arrested, as were former tax minister Smbat Aivazyan
and opposition leader Aram Karapetyan. The official announcement of
the election results means that there will be no recount. The
opposition has been warned that law enforcement will take decisive
measures to clear Theater Square on February 25.