Reuters
March 8 2008

Armenia Constitutional Court rejects opposition suit
Sat Mar 8, 2008 12:24pm EST

YEREVAN, March 8 (Reuters) – The Armenian Constitutional Court on
Saturday rejected opposition claims last month’s presidential vote
was rigged and stood by the verdict of the country’s central election
commission.

Outgoing President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in
Yerevan on March 1 after eight people were killed in clashes between
police and protesters who said the election was fixed to deny the
opposition a victory.

President-elect Serzh Sarksyan, who won 53 percent of the vote,
defended the emergency laws as necessary. His rival, former President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who won 21.5 percent, filed a suit to the
Constitutional Court.

The Court confirmed there were violations during the vote and asked
prosecutors to investigate. The Court said in a statement the
violations did not provide enough evidence to question the election
result. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchan, writing by Gleb Bryanski)