Armenia’s governing party on Monday won parliamentary elections seen as a test of the ex-Soviet state’s fragile democracy but opposition leaders alleged violations and vowed protests. European election observers from the OSCE praised the election process as competitive but said it had been undermined by a series of democratic failings including pressure on voters and an inadequate complaints process. President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican party took 44.05 percent of the vote after all ballots from Sunday’s contest were counted, the Central Election Commission said. Its outgoing coalition partner turned poll rival, the Prosperous Armenia party led by a millionaire former arm wrestling champion, came second with 30.20 per cent. Trailing far behind, the third-place opposition Armenian National Congress bloc scraped into parliament with 7.10 percent, according to final preliminary results posted on the commission’s website. Three other parties, Heritage, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) and Rule of Law also managed to secure minor representation in the legislative body by scoring just over five percent.
