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Armenian President'S Party Wins Parliamentary Vote

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  • Armenian President'S Party Wins Parliamentary Vote

    ARMENIAN PRESIDENT'S PARTY WINS PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

    La Crosse Tribune
    May 7 2012

    (AP) President Serge Sarkisian's party has won a majority of seats in
    a parliamentary election that international observers said Monday were
    competitive and peaceful, but undermined by organizational problems
    and some interference by political parties.

    The elections were seen as a test of Sarkisian's support ahead of
    next year's presidential election in which he is expected to seek a
    second term.

    The results showed the president's Republican Party won at least 68
    of the parliament's 131 seats. In the outgoing parliament, the party
    was a few seats shy of a majority and formed a coalition with the
    Prosperous Armenia party, which finished second in Sunday's election.

    "Armenia deserves recognition for its electoral reforms and its
    open and peaceful campaign environment, but, in this race, several
    stakeholders too often failed to comply with the law and election
    commissions too often failed to enforce it," said Francois-Xavier de
    Donnea, a member of the Belgian parliament who headed the observer
    mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

    The OSCE urged the Armenian government to address the problems before
    the presidential election.

    The opposition Armenian National Congress, led by former President
    Levon Ter-Petrosian, finished a distant third but did well enough
    to enter parliament for the first time. The party will get up to
    eight seats.

    Ter-Petrosian has not yet said whether he will accept the results of
    the parliamentary election or call his supporters out onto the street.

    Following the February 2008 presidential election, his supporters
    rallied in Yerevan, claiming the vote won by Sarkisian was flawed. The
    protests turned violent in early March, when clashes with police left
    10 people dead and more than 250 injured.

    Sarkisian's government has close ties both with Russia, which has a
    military base in Armenia, and the West, in part because of its large
    diaspora. Millions of Armenians live abroad, with the largest numbers
    in Russia, the United States, Georgia and France.

    Armenia has tense relations with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan,
    and its borders with both countries remain closed.

    Read more:
    http://lacrossetribune.com/news/world/europe/armenian-president-s-party-wins-parliamentary-vote/article_f06acff1-ecfe-5de9-bc1a-001a12e5877d.html#ixzz1uD9IhTu2




    From: A. Papazian
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