Armenian president Sarkisian re-elected

         
Officials in Armenia say that incumbent President Serge Sarkisian has been re-elected in a national election.                

The country's Central Election Commission said Tuesday morning that early results show Sarkisian is garnering nearly 59 percent of the vote. The closest of his six rivals, American-born Raffi Hovanessian, who was post-Soviet Armenia's first foreign minister, has 37 percent of the vote. Votes from all polling stations have been counted but these are still preliminary results.                    

Just over 60 percent of Armenia's 2.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in Monday's election, according to election officials.                    

Sarkisian, who has overseen a modest economic recovery, appears to be running strongly enough to avoid a runoff which would be required if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. 

Armenia's presidential election was an improvement on recent elections in the former Soviet republic but was not genuinely competitive, international observers said on Tuesday.    

Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday's election, in which President Serzh Sarksyan was re-elected, was peaceful and generally well conducted.    

"However, the limited field of candidates meant that the election was not genuinely competitive," they said in a written statement. "The candidates who did run were able to campaign in a free atmosphere and to present their views to voters, but the campaign overall failed to engage the public's interest."    

Several of Sarksyan's potential rivals decided not to run in the election because they feared the election would be skewed in the president's favor.

AP/REUTERS