Armenian poll challenge rejected

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7285815.stm

Published: 2008/03/09 06:40:12 GMT

The constitutional court in Armenia has rejected opposition claims that
the presidential election was rigged.
The court accepted opposition claims there were some violations but
said this could not call into question the entire poll.

The original announcement that Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian
had won sparked days of protests.

The government declared a 20-day state of emergency on 1 March as eight
protestors died in clashes with police.

Public gatherings have been banned and restrictions placed on the
media.

Official election results in Armenia gave Serzh Sarkisian 53% of the
vote, and the main opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian 21.5%.

Mr Ter-Petrosian had alleged there was widespread fraud at the poll,
but his legal appeal was rejected.

The outgoing President, Robert Kocharian, has warned that the
authorities will not tolerate any more mass demonstrations even after
the state of emergency is over.

The BBC’s Matthew Collin says a small group of female opposition
supporters defied the measures on Saturday when they dressed in black
and laid flowers where the clashes had taken place, in memory of those
who died.