Xinhua, China
Feb. 25, 2008
Sargsyan officially announced Armenian president-elect
MOSCOW, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — Armenian Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan has been officially announced as the Armenian
president-elect, according to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC)
on Sunday.
According to the commission, Sargsyan gained 52.82 percent of
votes in the Feb. 19 election, Russian news agencies reported.
The second and third places were opposition leader, the country’s
first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan who won 21.5 percent and
opposition leader and former Parliament Speaker Artur Baghdasaryan
who won 17.7 percent.
Ter-Petrosyan expressed distrust of the election’s preliminary
results and called a rally to protest after the result was announced
by the CEC on Feb. 20. Supporters of Ter-Petrosyan has been
protesting at the Liberty Square since then.
International election observers said the ballot mostly met
democratic norms. They noted certain shortcomings but said they did
not have an effect on the election outcome.
The president-elect will be inaugurated on April 9, the day when
the office of incumbent President Robert Kocharian ends.