ARMENIAN COURT UPHOLDS RESULT OF DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
Agence France Presse — English
March 8, 2008 Saturday 5:48 PM GMT
Armenia’s constitutional court announced Saturday it was upholding
the result of a disputed presidential election that sparked violent
unrest in the ex-Soviet republic.
"The constitutional court has decided to uphold the decision of
the Central Election Commission regarding the declaration of Serzh
Sarkisian as the president of Armenia," the court said in a statement
read out on television channels.
Opposition candidate and former president Levon Ter-Petrosian had
appealed to the court following his defeat in the February 19 vote to
Sarkisian, outgoing President Robert Kocharian’s handpicked successor.
Opposition supporters claim the election was rigged to ensure
Sarkisian’s victory, though foreign observers said the vote was mostly
in line with international standards.
The Armenian capital Yerevan is under a state of emergency until March
20 after eight people died in street battles between riot police and
opposition supporters. The violence also injured dozens, many from
gunshot wounds.
Kocharian has resisted Western calls to lift the state of emergency,
which bans demonstrations and censors the media.
Police have arrested more than 50 people in connection with the unrest,
which broke out after riot police moved in to disperse opposition
protesters who had rallied for 11 days in the capital against the
result of the election.
Police firing tear gas and live ammunition into the air fought running
battles with protesters throwing petrol bombs and stones.
The mountainous country of about three million people — wedged between
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey — has seen repeated political
violence and post-election protests since gaining its independence
with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
