By RIA Novosti
Yerevan : Armenia’s Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan won Tuesday’s presidential elections, securing 53 percent of total votes polled, the central election commission said Wednesday.
According to Central Election Commissioner Garegin Azaryan, Sarkisyan got 52.86 percent of votes with about 99 percent of ballots counted so far.
A candidate has to cross the threshold of 50 percent of total polled votes to hold the highest office of the country.
His nearest rival, Armenia’s first president Levon-Ter-Petrosyan, received 21.5 percent of the votes while former speaker Artur Bagdasaryan got 16.7 percent.
Vaan Ovannisyan, a deputy speaker and a member of the Dashnaktsutyun Party’s bureau, garnered 6.2 percent.
Sargsyan, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) since 2006, was appointed prime minister in April 2007, and gained re-appointment to the post in June to head the new cabinet, formed as a result of the May parliamentary elections.
According to Armenia’s election legislation, the winner will be officially declared in a week.
Voter turnout was 69.26 percent, the election commissioner said.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan complained that the country’s election authorities and international observers ignored reports about election violations.
A total of 14,000 observers from 39 local and six international organizations monitored the elections.