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ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED, EXIT POLL SAYS
The Associated Press
Feb 18 2013
By By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, who has
overseen a modest economic recovery in his country, was re-elected
in a national election on Monday, according to an exit poll.
The poll of 19,130 voters conducted by Gallup and other pollsters
and carried by ArmNews TV showed Sarkisian winning 58 percent of
the ballots. The closest of his six rivals, the American-born Raffi
Hovanessian, who was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign minister,
polled 32 percent.
Just over 60 percent of Armenia's 2.5 million eligible voters cast
ballots in the election for the country's top official, according
to the Central Election Commission. Full preliminary results are
expected Tuesday.
A strong performance by Sarkisian appears to have helped him avoid
a runoff, which would be required if no candidate wins more than 50
percent of the vote.
Sarkisian's victory had been widely expected. He has overseen a
return to economic growth after years of stagnation, although the
former Soviet republic still suffers from widespread poverty. World
Bank figures for 2010, the most recent year tallied, show nearly 36
percent of the country living below the national poverty line. Average
wages are about $300 a month.
The landlocked country's economy is hobbled by the longstanding closure
of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey, both connected with the
occupation by Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian local forces of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. That conflict shows no signs of
imminent resolution despite years of international mediation attempts.
The top challenger, Hovanessian, accused Sarkisian of losing the arms
race with Azerbaijan. He also contended that billions of dollars
have disappeared from the state budget because of corruption under
Sarkisian, and emphasized the large number of Armenians leaving the
country of 3 million to pursue better opportunities. The outward
flow is estimated last year to have been about 3.3 people per 1,000
of the population.
Sarkisian's first term in 2008 started traumatically. Within weeks of
his election, clashes between police and supporters of Sarkisian's
vanquished challenger, Lev Ter-Petrosian, left 10 people dead and
more than 250 wounded.
But Sarkisian adroitly reduced tensions by talking with critics and
allowing opposition protests. The next year, parliament granted a
sweeping amnesty to hundreds of people who had been arrested in the
post-election violence.
This year's presidential campaign lasted only a month, but was packed
in drama that included the shooting of one candidate and another
contender going on a hunger strike.
Paruir Airikian, the candidate who was shot in the shoulder in a
mysterious attack, finished third Monday with 3 percent of the ballot,
according to the exit poll, apparently thanks to the outpouring of
sympathy for him over the shooting.
A fringe candidate, political analyst Andrias Gukasian, has been on
a hunger strike outside the national academy of sciences building in
central Yerevan since the campaign opened Jan. 21, protesting alleged
widespread vote-buying by Sarkisian's party.
An interim report on the campaign by the elections-monitoring arm
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted
that some of Sarkisian's campaign offices are located in government
buildings and that "the distinction between campaign activities and
state functions appears to be blurred."
Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.
The Associated Press
Feb 18 2013
By By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, who has
overseen a modest economic recovery in his country, was re-elected
in a national election on Monday, according to an exit poll.
The poll of 19,130 voters conducted by Gallup and other pollsters
and carried by ArmNews TV showed Sarkisian winning 58 percent of
the ballots. The closest of his six rivals, the American-born Raffi
Hovanessian, who was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign minister,
polled 32 percent.
Just over 60 percent of Armenia's 2.5 million eligible voters cast
ballots in the election for the country's top official, according
to the Central Election Commission. Full preliminary results are
expected Tuesday.
A strong performance by Sarkisian appears to have helped him avoid
a runoff, which would be required if no candidate wins more than 50
percent of the vote.
Sarkisian's victory had been widely expected. He has overseen a
return to economic growth after years of stagnation, although the
former Soviet republic still suffers from widespread poverty. World
Bank figures for 2010, the most recent year tallied, show nearly 36
percent of the country living below the national poverty line. Average
wages are about $300 a month.
The landlocked country's economy is hobbled by the longstanding closure
of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey, both connected with the
occupation by Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian local forces of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. That conflict shows no signs of
imminent resolution despite years of international mediation attempts.
The top challenger, Hovanessian, accused Sarkisian of losing the arms
race with Azerbaijan. He also contended that billions of dollars
have disappeared from the state budget because of corruption under
Sarkisian, and emphasized the large number of Armenians leaving the
country of 3 million to pursue better opportunities. The outward
flow is estimated last year to have been about 3.3 people per 1,000
of the population.
Sarkisian's first term in 2008 started traumatically. Within weeks of
his election, clashes between police and supporters of Sarkisian's
vanquished challenger, Lev Ter-Petrosian, left 10 people dead and
more than 250 wounded.
But Sarkisian adroitly reduced tensions by talking with critics and
allowing opposition protests. The next year, parliament granted a
sweeping amnesty to hundreds of people who had been arrested in the
post-election violence.
This year's presidential campaign lasted only a month, but was packed
in drama that included the shooting of one candidate and another
contender going on a hunger strike.
Paruir Airikian, the candidate who was shot in the shoulder in a
mysterious attack, finished third Monday with 3 percent of the ballot,
according to the exit poll, apparently thanks to the outpouring of
sympathy for him over the shooting.
A fringe candidate, political analyst Andrias Gukasian, has been on
a hunger strike outside the national academy of sciences building in
central Yerevan since the campaign opened Jan. 21, protesting alleged
widespread vote-buying by Sarkisian's party.
An interim report on the campaign by the elections-monitoring arm
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted
that some of Sarkisian's campaign offices are located in government
buildings and that "the distinction between campaign activities and
state functions appears to be blurred."
Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.