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ARMENIA'S PRESIDENT SARKISIAN CELEBRATES ELECTION VICTORY
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Feb 19 2013
Preliminary results in Armenia show that incumbent President Serge
Sarkisian has won another five-year term. He has promised stability
for the troubled region where pipelines carry Caspian oil and gas
to Europe.
The Central Election Commission show Armenia's pro-Russia President
Serge Sarkisian being re-elected with 58.6 percent of the votes cast,
enough to avoid a second-round run-off.
The closest of six rivals was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign
minister, Raffi Hovannisian, who had 36.75 percent, according to the
commission. However, he has claimed that there had been irregularities
in voters' lists and procedures.
Several prominent opposition rivals had chosen not to stand, including
former arm-wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukian who leads the Prosperous
Armenia party.
Two other candidates, Paruir Airikian, who was injured in an apparent
assassination attempt in January and former premier Hrant Bagratian
each won about 3 percent, according to the Gallup exit survey of
19,000 voters.
Armenia's electoral commission said voter turnout had been 60 percent
and polling had been peaceful. The vote which brought Sarkisian to
power in 2008 ended in clashes in which 10 people died.
A fringe candidate, political analyst Andrias Gukasian, had alleged
widespread vote-buying by Sarkisian's party.
Stability promised
Campaigning ahead of Monday's vote, Sarkisian, 59, had promised
economic recovery and stability in his landlocked South Caucasus nation
after years of upheaval and border closures with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Sarkisian is a veteran of Armenia's 1990s war with neighboring
Azerbaijan over the disputed Armenian-run region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Poverty high
Most election candidates had promised to reduce poverty and
unemployment, trends which had prompted nearly one million Armenians
to leave over the past two decades.
More than a third of its 3.2 million population lives below the
poverty line, according to the World Bank. Unemployment ran at 16
percent last year.
Armenia also remains estranged from its neighbor Turkey over a
long-running dispute about the massacres of Armenian civilians during
and after World War I.
ipj/slk (Reuters, dpa, AFP)
http://www.dw.de/armenias-president-sarkisian-celebrates-election-victory/a-16609130
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Feb 19 2013
Preliminary results in Armenia show that incumbent President Serge
Sarkisian has won another five-year term. He has promised stability
for the troubled region where pipelines carry Caspian oil and gas
to Europe.
The Central Election Commission show Armenia's pro-Russia President
Serge Sarkisian being re-elected with 58.6 percent of the votes cast,
enough to avoid a second-round run-off.
The closest of six rivals was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign
minister, Raffi Hovannisian, who had 36.75 percent, according to the
commission. However, he has claimed that there had been irregularities
in voters' lists and procedures.
Several prominent opposition rivals had chosen not to stand, including
former arm-wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukian who leads the Prosperous
Armenia party.
Two other candidates, Paruir Airikian, who was injured in an apparent
assassination attempt in January and former premier Hrant Bagratian
each won about 3 percent, according to the Gallup exit survey of
19,000 voters.
Armenia's electoral commission said voter turnout had been 60 percent
and polling had been peaceful. The vote which brought Sarkisian to
power in 2008 ended in clashes in which 10 people died.
A fringe candidate, political analyst Andrias Gukasian, had alleged
widespread vote-buying by Sarkisian's party.
Stability promised
Campaigning ahead of Monday's vote, Sarkisian, 59, had promised
economic recovery and stability in his landlocked South Caucasus nation
after years of upheaval and border closures with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Sarkisian is a veteran of Armenia's 1990s war with neighboring
Azerbaijan over the disputed Armenian-run region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Poverty high
Most election candidates had promised to reduce poverty and
unemployment, trends which had prompted nearly one million Armenians
to leave over the past two decades.
More than a third of its 3.2 million population lives below the
poverty line, according to the World Bank. Unemployment ran at 16
percent last year.
Armenia also remains estranged from its neighbor Turkey over a
long-running dispute about the massacres of Armenian civilians during
and after World War I.
ipj/slk (Reuters, dpa, AFP)
http://www.dw.de/armenias-president-sarkisian-celebrates-election-victory/a-16609130