ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SET TO WIN RE-ELECTION
Voice of America
Feb 18 2013
Exit polls say Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is set to be
re-elected to a second term in office.
Polls show the incumbent leader received nearly 60 percent of
Monday's vote. His nearest rival, former foreign minister Raffi
Hovannisian, trailed with just over 30 percent.
Mr. Sargsyan's expected victory would give another five years
to the already 13-year rule of his Republican Party in the small
Caucasus nation.
In a rarity for the former Soviet republics, Armenia was having a
genuine multi-party contest. The race, however, has been rocky for
the landlocked nation of about 3 million people.
Of the eight original candidates, one dropped out, a second refused
to vote, a third also refused to vote and went on a hunger strike,
a fourth was shot and wounded in an apparent assassination attempt,
and a fifth feared arrest after Monday's vote because he knew
the suspected shooter.
Of the last remaining candidates, two were charging fraud even before
the first ballot was cast.
http://www.voanews.com/content/armenian-president-set-to-win-reelection/1605941.html
Voice of America
Feb 18 2013
Exit polls say Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is set to be
re-elected to a second term in office.
Polls show the incumbent leader received nearly 60 percent of
Monday's vote. His nearest rival, former foreign minister Raffi
Hovannisian, trailed with just over 30 percent.
Mr. Sargsyan's expected victory would give another five years
to the already 13-year rule of his Republican Party in the small
Caucasus nation.
In a rarity for the former Soviet republics, Armenia was having a
genuine multi-party contest. The race, however, has been rocky for
the landlocked nation of about 3 million people.
Of the eight original candidates, one dropped out, a second refused
to vote, a third also refused to vote and went on a hunger strike,
a fourth was shot and wounded in an apparent assassination attempt,
and a fifth feared arrest after Monday's vote because he knew
the suspected shooter.
Of the last remaining candidates, two were charging fraud even before
the first ballot was cast.
http://www.voanews.com/content/armenian-president-set-to-win-reelection/1605941.html