YEREVAN, February 24 (RIA Novosti) – Several thousand opposition supporters rallied in Yerevan on Sunday protesting the outcome of Armenia’s presidential election, challenged by the country’s opposition leader Raffi Hovhannisyan, Armenia's state TV reported.
Hovhannisyan, 53, Armenia’s former foreign minister and leader of the opposition’s Heritage Party, said he will continue to push for annulling the results of the election, which resulted in the victory of incumbent Serzh Sargsyan.
According to preliminary results, Sargsyan won the election with 59 percent of the vote and US-born Hovhannisyan came second with 37 percent. The final results will be announced by the Central Electoral Commission on Monday.
OSCE observers said the Armenian presidential election, which saw Sargsyan reelected to another five-year term, showed improvement but lacked genuine competition. Hovhannisyan claimed the election was illegitimate.
Hovhannisyan said the “revolution of greetings,” which he announced on Friday, will continue across the country after the official election results are announced.
“Towns by towns, villages by villages… We will return power to people,” Hovhannisyan told his supporters adding however that all the protests should be peaceful.
