Armenia's ruling party headed to win

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YEREVAN, Armenia, May 7 (UPI) -- Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party appeared headed to a decisive win in the country's parliamentary elections Sunday, initial results showed.

ArmeniaLibrty.org reported the country's Central Election Commission said early Monday that with about 7 percent of the ballots counted, the Republican Party, known as the HHK, had received almost 53 percent and its partner in the governing coalition, the Prosperous Armenia Party, or BHK, was second with almost 29 percent.

The commission said of the remaining parties, only the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation was clearing the 5 percent vote threshold for being represented in the Armenian Parliament.

Voting for the 131 seats in the Parliament began Sunday with hundreds of international observers at polling stations, officials said.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had about 300 observers at polling stations in the former Soviet republic of 3.3 million people, the reports said.

Allegations of vote-rigging led to violent protests after the 2008 election.

After voting in Yerevan Sunday, Sargsyan told reporters he was confident there wouldn't be a repeat of the problems, the ArmenPress news agency said.

"We have created all the necessary conditions that the elections would be held in the field of legitimacy, without any violations," the president said. "I am sure those elections will be the most transparent in the history of our independent state and that electors will be satisfied with the whole election process."