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ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER MAY CHALLENGE PRESIDENT'S REELECTION
Reuters
Feb 25 2013
* Opposition says has five days to appeal outcome
* International monitors say vote lacked real competition
By Hasmik Lazarian
YEREVAN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The runner-up in Armenia's presidential
election said on Monday he might challenge the official result that
gave Serzh Sarksyan a new five-year term and triggered street protests.
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian got 37 percent of votes cast in
the Feb. 18 election in the nation of 3.2 million, Moscow's closest
ally in the south Caucasus, nestled between Russia, Turkey, Iran and
energy-rich Central Asia.
Hovannisian and his Heritage Party say the vote was rigged in favour
of Sarksyan, who won 58.6 percent. The opposition have twice held
protests drawing several thousand people in the capital Yerevan since
the election.
"As of today we have five days to challenge the clearly illegal and
anti-Armenian result of this election," Hovannisian, a U.S.-born
former foreign minister of the landlocked ex-Soviet republic, told
a news conference.
"Many say it's not worth it. We will discuss it. I do not rule out
that by March 2 we will turn to the Constitutional Court," Hovannisian
said, referring to an official challenge. He repeated that he considers
himself the real winner of the race.
Armenia's election commission also said on Monday there were no legal
violations during the vote that could impact results.
The protests on Wednesday and Friday were peaceful. Foreign governments
and investors worry about signs of instability in Armenia, where 10
people were killed in violence that followed Sarksyan's first election
victory in 2008.
International election monitors said last week's poll was an
improvement from previous ones but it still lacked real competition
after some of Sarksyan's adversaries decided not to run, fearing the
results would be skewed.
Armenia, which hosts one of Russia's few foreign military bases
and is part of a post-Soviet security alliance dominated by Moscow,
is locked in a deadly dispute with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the
mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian-majority enclave inside
Azerbaijan, which Armenia-backed rebels wrested from Azeri troops in a
war that killed some 30,000 people before a 1994 ceasefire. Skirmishes
still kill troops on both sides. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtychan,
Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Steve Gutterman and Michael
Roddy)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/25/armenia-election-idUSL6N0BPFMD20130225
From: Baghdasarian
Reuters
Feb 25 2013
* Opposition says has five days to appeal outcome
* International monitors say vote lacked real competition
By Hasmik Lazarian
YEREVAN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The runner-up in Armenia's presidential
election said on Monday he might challenge the official result that
gave Serzh Sarksyan a new five-year term and triggered street protests.
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian got 37 percent of votes cast in
the Feb. 18 election in the nation of 3.2 million, Moscow's closest
ally in the south Caucasus, nestled between Russia, Turkey, Iran and
energy-rich Central Asia.
Hovannisian and his Heritage Party say the vote was rigged in favour
of Sarksyan, who won 58.6 percent. The opposition have twice held
protests drawing several thousand people in the capital Yerevan since
the election.
"As of today we have five days to challenge the clearly illegal and
anti-Armenian result of this election," Hovannisian, a U.S.-born
former foreign minister of the landlocked ex-Soviet republic, told
a news conference.
"Many say it's not worth it. We will discuss it. I do not rule out
that by March 2 we will turn to the Constitutional Court," Hovannisian
said, referring to an official challenge. He repeated that he considers
himself the real winner of the race.
Armenia's election commission also said on Monday there were no legal
violations during the vote that could impact results.
The protests on Wednesday and Friday were peaceful. Foreign governments
and investors worry about signs of instability in Armenia, where 10
people were killed in violence that followed Sarksyan's first election
victory in 2008.
International election monitors said last week's poll was an
improvement from previous ones but it still lacked real competition
after some of Sarksyan's adversaries decided not to run, fearing the
results would be skewed.
Armenia, which hosts one of Russia's few foreign military bases
and is part of a post-Soviet security alliance dominated by Moscow,
is locked in a deadly dispute with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the
mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian-majority enclave inside
Azerbaijan, which Armenia-backed rebels wrested from Azeri troops in a
war that killed some 30,000 people before a 1994 ceasefire. Skirmishes
still kill troops on both sides. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtychan,
Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Steve Gutterman and Michael
Roddy)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/25/armenia-election-idUSL6N0BPFMD20130225
From: Baghdasarian