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LEAD: PRESIDENTIAL PARTY TOPS ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION EDS: RECASTS WITH ELECTION RESULT
Europe Online Magazine
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/lead-presidential-party-tops-armenian-parliamentary-electioneds-recasts-with-election-result-epa-photos_207969.html
May 7 2012
Yerevan (dpa) - President Serzh Sargsyan's Republic Party scored major
gains in Armenia's parliamentary election on Sunday, emerging as the
top party, according to exit polls released after voting ended.
His pro-Russian party was expected to win 45 per cent of the overall
vote, up more than 10 percentage points from the last election in 2007,
the data showed as vote-counting continued.
Election observers in the capital Yerevan said that despite occasional
breaches of democratic rules, polling was generally peaceful and fair.
There were 131 seats in the National Assembly of the former Soviet
republic up for grabs. Voting ended at 8 pm (1600 GMT). Officials
assessed the turnout among the 2.5 million registered voters at 62.2
per cent.
At least five parties were tipped to win seats. The Prosperous Armenia
party led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan was in second place on 28.8
per cent of the votes, doubling its vote five years ago, the exit
polls showed.
The party has been a member of Sargsyan's tripartite coalition until
now, but has presented itself to voters as an opposition voice speaking
up for Armenia's poor.
Armenia's economy has been hampered by closed borders to its Islamic
neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan. The country depends on help from
Russia.
Western observers said campaigning was unfettered and opposition
parties were able to make their voices heard in the media during
campaigning.
A presidential election in March 2008 triggered deadly riots after
Sargsyan defeated Levon Ter-Petrosian, the country's first president.
Ter-Petrosian, now a member of the opposition Armenian National
Congress, campaigned in the election.
On Friday, an estimated 150 people were injured at an election rally
of the Republic Party when several gas-filled balloons exploded.
Dozens were still being treated in hospital on Sunday.
The small Caucasus nation is a strategically important region, lying
along gas routes from the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe,
and is a close partner of Iran and Georgia.
Armenia sees itself as increasingly threatened by its authoritarian,
oil-rich neighbour Azerbaijan, with which it fought a war in the 1990s.
An estimated 30,000 people died in that war over Nagorno-Karabakh,
an ethnically Armenian enclave that has remained under Yerevan's
control since a 1994 ceasefire.
Europe Online Magazine
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/lead-presidential-party-tops-armenian-parliamentary-electioneds-recasts-with-election-result-epa-photos_207969.html
May 7 2012
Yerevan (dpa) - President Serzh Sargsyan's Republic Party scored major
gains in Armenia's parliamentary election on Sunday, emerging as the
top party, according to exit polls released after voting ended.
His pro-Russian party was expected to win 45 per cent of the overall
vote, up more than 10 percentage points from the last election in 2007,
the data showed as vote-counting continued.
Election observers in the capital Yerevan said that despite occasional
breaches of democratic rules, polling was generally peaceful and fair.
There were 131 seats in the National Assembly of the former Soviet
republic up for grabs. Voting ended at 8 pm (1600 GMT). Officials
assessed the turnout among the 2.5 million registered voters at 62.2
per cent.
At least five parties were tipped to win seats. The Prosperous Armenia
party led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan was in second place on 28.8
per cent of the votes, doubling its vote five years ago, the exit
polls showed.
The party has been a member of Sargsyan's tripartite coalition until
now, but has presented itself to voters as an opposition voice speaking
up for Armenia's poor.
Armenia's economy has been hampered by closed borders to its Islamic
neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan. The country depends on help from
Russia.
Western observers said campaigning was unfettered and opposition
parties were able to make their voices heard in the media during
campaigning.
A presidential election in March 2008 triggered deadly riots after
Sargsyan defeated Levon Ter-Petrosian, the country's first president.
Ter-Petrosian, now a member of the opposition Armenian National
Congress, campaigned in the election.
On Friday, an estimated 150 people were injured at an election rally
of the Republic Party when several gas-filled balloons exploded.
Dozens were still being treated in hospital on Sunday.
The small Caucasus nation is a strategically important region, lying
along gas routes from the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe,
and is a close partner of Iran and Georgia.
Armenia sees itself as increasingly threatened by its authoritarian,
oil-rich neighbour Azerbaijan, with which it fought a war in the 1990s.
An estimated 30,000 people died in that war over Nagorno-Karabakh,
an ethnically Armenian enclave that has remained under Yerevan's
control since a 1994 ceasefire.