Sarkisian in lead in Armenian election

YEREVAN, Armenia, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian appeared to have won a first-round victory in the Armenian presidential election Tuesday.

The Central Election Commission reported early Wednesday that Sarkisian had 57.8 percent of the vote with about one-third of the ballots counted, Armenialiberty.org reported. Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian had 18 percent and former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian 17 percent.

Both the Ter-Petrosian and Baghdasarian campaigns accused the CEC and Sarkisian of rigging the election. A Ter-Petrosian spokesman said that CEC's turnout figures were inflated.

"The elections took place with blatant violations which seriously affected the overall results," Nikol Pashinian told reporters at a news conference.

Observers from the European Parliament said that the election was carried out according to international standards, PanArmenian.net reported.

The results were in line with an exit poll commissioned by state television and conducted by a pro-government group. Another exit poll conducted by a coalition of 30 organizations put Ter-Petrosian in the lead with Sarkisian just behind him.

Armenia, a landlocked country wedged in between Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Azerbaijan, seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991.