Voters at a Yerevan polling station on Sunday

YEREVAN–Amid allegations of massive voter intimidation and fraud, the Yerevan municipal elections concluded Sunday night when polls closed at 8 p.m.

The Central Election Commission issued preliminary results Monday, announcing that Serzh Sarkisian’s ruling Republican Party of Armenia came ahead with 55.86 percent of the voter. Trailing in second place was the Prosperous  Armenia Party with 23.05 percent. Opposition presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian’s Barev Yerevan bloc garnered 8.47 percent of the votes.

The Armenian National Congress party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Rule of Law Party and the Mission Party received 4.39, 3.79, 3.73 and 0.64 percent of the votes respectively. The aforementioned four parties did not garner the six percent of the votes needed to be part of the City Council.

The CEC also announced that of the  816,478 registered voters in the city 437,212 participated in Sunday’s election.

The CEC will issue final results on May 12.

ARF Reaction
The ARF Supreme Council of Armenia issued a statement Monday saying that it participated in the elections in order to change the moral climate of the country and to inspire the citizens to have hope and confidence in the future.

However, the ARF added, the ruling regime, once again used infinite state resources and bribes to force their victory upon the electorate.

“The monopoly of the authorities has gotten even stronger,” warned the ARF adding that the ruling regime can now govern both the country and the capital.

The ARF said that it will not retreat from its principled position and will continue to work to implement radical change for the sake of the country, freedoms and the well-being of Armenian citizens.