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ARMENIAN PRESIDENT'S PARTY LEADS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION - CEC
By Hasmik Lazarian and Margarita Antidze
EuroNews
http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1507784-armenian-presidents-party-leads-parliamentary-election-cec/
May 7 2012
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican
Party is on course to win Sunday's parliamentary election, the Central
Election Commission (CEC) said.
Its main partner in the previous coalition, the Prosperous Armenia
party led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, was set to finish
second, the CEC said on its website.
After counting results from more than 50 percent of the polling
stations, the CEC said the Republican Party had won 46.23 percent
and Prosperous Armenia 30.72 percent of the vote.
According to preliminary results, three more parties are likely to
win the 5 percent of votes needed to enter parliament in the former
Soviet republic.
The Armenian National Congress, an opposition coalition led by former
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, might also cross the 7-percent threshold
set for blocs of parties to win seats.
Many voters and Armenian leaders had hoped the election would be a
landmark for democracy after voting irregularities marred the last
parliamentary election in 2007 and clashes killed 10 people after
the presidential vote in 2008.
More than 300 international observers from the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored voting and will give
their initial verdict on Monday.
The exit poll showed after voting ended in the South Caucasus country
that Republican Party would keep its grip on power, with Prosperous
Armenia in second place.
There were no reports of violence, an encouraging sign for the nation
that wants stability to boost its economy, devastated by a war with
neighbouring Azerbaijan in the 1990s and then the 2008-2009 global
financial crisis.
The parties made social problems and economic issues the main issues of
an election campaign that was unusually active for Armenia, Russia's
main ally in the South Caucasus.
There were no major differences in their economic programmes,
which call for more active development of domestic industry and
continuation of cooperation with Russia as well as international
financial organisations.
A blast at a campaign rally injured about 150 people on Friday,
briefly raising fears of violence, but emergency officials said it
was caused by gas-filled balloons exploding.
Armenia is nestled among mountains in a region that is emerging as
an important route for oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea to
world markets, although it has no pipelines of its own.
Although a ceasefire was reached in 1994, its conflict with Azerbaijan
over the tiny Nagorno-Karabakh region remains unresolved and a threat
to stability.
Relations with another neighbour, Turkey, are also fraught because
Ankara does not recognise as genocide the killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey during World War One.
From: Baghdasarian
By Hasmik Lazarian and Margarita Antidze
EuroNews
http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1507784-armenian-presidents-party-leads-parliamentary-election-cec/
May 7 2012
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican
Party is on course to win Sunday's parliamentary election, the Central
Election Commission (CEC) said.
Its main partner in the previous coalition, the Prosperous Armenia
party led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, was set to finish
second, the CEC said on its website.
After counting results from more than 50 percent of the polling
stations, the CEC said the Republican Party had won 46.23 percent
and Prosperous Armenia 30.72 percent of the vote.
According to preliminary results, three more parties are likely to
win the 5 percent of votes needed to enter parliament in the former
Soviet republic.
The Armenian National Congress, an opposition coalition led by former
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, might also cross the 7-percent threshold
set for blocs of parties to win seats.
Many voters and Armenian leaders had hoped the election would be a
landmark for democracy after voting irregularities marred the last
parliamentary election in 2007 and clashes killed 10 people after
the presidential vote in 2008.
More than 300 international observers from the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored voting and will give
their initial verdict on Monday.
The exit poll showed after voting ended in the South Caucasus country
that Republican Party would keep its grip on power, with Prosperous
Armenia in second place.
There were no reports of violence, an encouraging sign for the nation
that wants stability to boost its economy, devastated by a war with
neighbouring Azerbaijan in the 1990s and then the 2008-2009 global
financial crisis.
The parties made social problems and economic issues the main issues of
an election campaign that was unusually active for Armenia, Russia's
main ally in the South Caucasus.
There were no major differences in their economic programmes,
which call for more active development of domestic industry and
continuation of cooperation with Russia as well as international
financial organisations.
A blast at a campaign rally injured about 150 people on Friday,
briefly raising fears of violence, but emergency officials said it
was caused by gas-filled balloons exploding.
Armenia is nestled among mountains in a region that is emerging as
an important route for oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea to
world markets, although it has no pipelines of its own.
Although a ceasefire was reached in 1994, its conflict with Azerbaijan
over the tiny Nagorno-Karabakh region remains unresolved and a threat
to stability.
Relations with another neighbour, Turkey, are also fraught because
Ankara does not recognise as genocide the killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey during World War One.
From: Baghdasarian