Armenian president's re-election confirmed

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) confirmed Monday that President Serzh Sargsyan has won a second term in office, one week after the presidential election. Final results of the Feb. 18 poll showed Sargsyan, of the ruling Republic party, won 58.64 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a run-off. Opposition candidate Raffi Hovhannisyan finished second with 36.74 percent. Besides the two front-runners, five other candidates also took part in the presidential race. Under Armenian law, the presidential candidates could lodge an appeal in the Constitutional Court over election disputes within five days after the formal announcement of election results. The Feb. 18 presidential election was considered "generally well-administered" by the OSCE/ODIHR election monitoring mission. According to the CEC's plan, elections of city councils and mayors of local self-governing bodies in Armenia will be held on May 26, Nov. 17 and Dec 8.