ARMENIA POLL WINNER OFFERS COALITION AS PROTESTS GROW
by Mariam Harutunian

Agence France Presse — English
February 26, 2008 Tuesday 6:58 PM GMT

Armenia’s president-elect Serzh Sarkisian invited defeated rivals
Tuesday to help form a coalition government as the capital Yerevan
saw the largest opposition rally since last week’s election.

But in a sign of growing tension on the seventh day of mass protests,
Armenia’s secret service said it had detained several protesters for
holding a cache of arms and plotting to seize state television and
radio stations.

In Yerevan Tuesday for talks with both sides, Finnish Foreign Minister
Ilkka Kanerva and current chairman of the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), called for restraint.

Addressing several thousand supporters in the capital’s Republic
Square, Sarkisian appeared to offer an olive branch to the opposition.

"We appeal to all former presidential candidates and all political
forces supporting them: let us cooperate right up to the formation
of a coalition government," Sarkisian said.

"I call on everyone, irrespective of their political opinion,
to overcome this artificial split in society," he added, as his
supporters waved placards reading: "We Will Protect Our Votes!"

But in nearby Freedom Square, tens of thousands of backers of
Sarkisian’s defeated rival Levon Ter-Petrosian held a seventh day
of protests — and, on glance, by far the largest rally to date —
to overturn what they claim was a rigged election on February 19.

Neither organizers nor the police however were available to provide
accurate estimates of the crowd.

At the rally, which took place without incident, protesters punched
their fists into the air, waved Armenian flags and chanted: "Levon!

Levon!" and "Serzh Leave!"

Several thousand opposition activists later broke off from the main
demonstration to march past government offices, which were surrounded
by riot police in grey camouflage uniforms.

A few hundred activists then prepared to bed down for another night
at a protest camp of around two dozen tents set up on Freedom Square
amid freezing winter temperatures.

While there was no response to Sarkisian’s offer for talks in a
speech by Ter-Petrosian, fellow opposition leader Vaagn Khachatrian
said the proposal had come too late.

"It should have been made a week ago," he said.

Official results from the election gave victory to Sarkisian, the prime
minister, with 53 percent of the vote. Former president Ter-Petrosian
came second with 21.5 percent.

Ter-Petrosian has called for the result to be annulled, alleging
that dozens of his activists were beaten and that ballot stuffing,
multiple voting and voter intimidation were widespread on election day.

But OSCE election observers described the vote as "mostly" in line
with international standards.

Meanwhile, the National Security Service said in a statement Tuesday
it detained several opposition supporters during the seizure of a
cache of weapons in an alleged plot to seize state television and
radio stations.

Several other opposition activists were detained over the weekend
for allegedly possessing illegal weapons. On Monday, police ordered
the closing of some of Ter-Petrosian’s offices, according to his
campaign staff.

In a national television address the next day, President Robert
Kocharian said it was time everyone "sobered up and understood that
you cannot get to power by rough means."

While Sarkisian described protesters in his speech as "brothers and
sisters," he suggested there was a limit to the authorities’ patience
for the rallies.

"We will be decisive so that life in the capital becomes normal,"
he said.