Exit polls show comprehensive victory for Sargsyan's party; ARFD clears 5%
By RFE/RL | Monday, 07 May 2012
YEREVAN: Armenia's Central Election Commission has announced that with over 7 percent of ballots counted, President Serzh Sargsyan's governing Republican party is on course for a comprehensive victory in parliamentary elections, winning some 53 percent of the vote.
(LIVE VOTING RESULTS AVAILABLE AT http://www.elections.am/flash/web/default.aspx.)The commission said the junior partner in the country's current governing coalition, the Prosperous Armenia party, came in a distant second with almost 29 percent of the vote.It also reported that only one of several other competing parties -- the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation -- had cleared the 5 percent vote threshold for representation in parliament. Speaking at a joint news conference held shortly before the release of the first official figures, senior representatives of the Prosperous Armenia party, the Armenian National Congress, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation brushed aside as “extremely incredible” the election commission's claim that more than 62 percent of Armenia’s eligible voters took part in the elections, accusing the authorities of grossly inflating the turnout.In a joint statement, they said that figure is “only deepening suspicions regarding the legal course of the elections.”Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabian condemned the elections as "disgraceful" and marred by vote-rigging. He said his party and other opposition forces would proceed with a planned rally on Tuesday in the capital's Liberty Square.The Armenian National Congress is led by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian. Around 2.5 million people in the country of 3.3 million were eligible to vote in the elections, which were contested by eight parties and one bloc.Unemployment, Poverty, EmigrationSome 350 international election monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are in Armenia.Campaigning mainly focused on unemployment, poverty, and emigration rather than Armenia's disputes with neighboring Azerbaijan.The government had promised an orderly election for the 131-seat National Assembly, hoping to avoid any turmoil like the incidents of 2008, when battles between riot police and opposition supporters left 10 people dead.Russian Central Election Commission member Siyabshakh Shapiyev, who is observing the vote, was quoted earlier on May 6 as saying that voting had been proceeding smoothly and that no violations had been observed.On May 4, the last day of the election campaign, scores of gas-filled balloons exploded at a Republican party rally in Yerevan led by Sarkisian, unleashing a fireball into the air and injuring around 150 people.The OSCE said Armenia's 2007 parliamentary ballot fell short of international standards.Journalist AttackedIn related news, RFE/RL correspondent Elina Chilingarian was attacked by a young man outside a polling station in the Armenian capital.The man approached Chilingarian while she was videotaping busloads of people arriving to vote in the southern Erebuni district of Yerevan on May 6.The video shows the man approach the reporter. He asks Chilingarian if she is filming him, before knocking the camera out of her hands.A police complaint has been filed and the matter is now under investigation.Chilingarian was not hurt in the incident.
