By Margarita Antidze
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyanhas won a clear victory in a presidential election, accordingto official figures, but opposition parties prepared protestson Wednesday, saying the contest was rigged.
Sarksyan, who has vowed to continue the policies of hisally, incumbent president Robert Kocharyan, took 52.86 percentof the votes, the Central Election Committee said. This wasenough for outright victory in the first round.
Landlocked Armenia lies high in the Caucasus mountainsbetween Turkey and Azerbaijan, two states with which it hasstrained relations. The ex-Soviet republic has emerged as animportant transit region for oil exports from the Caspian Seato world markets but lacks significant resources of its own.
Sarksyan's nearest challenger, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, won 21.5 percent of the votes, according topreliminary official figures.
Current president Kocharyan congratulated Sarksyan on hisvictory in what he called free and fair elections.
But the opposition alleged that ballot-stuffing and beatingof its supporters had marred the vote and called protests laterin the day. A note on Ter-Petrosyan's campaign website said hehad won the election.
"Today there will be a massive protest," said NikolPashinyan, an aide to Ter-Petrosyan. "It will be a crime if welet power and our country stay in the hands of the regime ofSergh Sarksyan and Robert Kocharyan."
Ter-Petrosyan, who accuses the present administration oftolerating corruption, failing to uphold the rule of law andpushing Armenia into international isolation, was Armenia'sfirst president after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He ruled from 1991 until 1998, when he resigned underpressure and ceded power to Kocharyan.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH
With both the Turkish and Azeri land borders closed becauseof disputes, Armenia relies heavily on a close political andmilitary alliance with Moscow and, despite a recent spurt ineconomic growth, remains poor compared to its neighbours.
Analysts say a still-unresolved conflict with neighbouringMuslim Azerbaijan over the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh -- controlled by Armenians after a bitter war in the1990s -- could flare up again into violence.
Stalled efforts to reach a peace deal are likely to be thebiggest challenge facing the new president. Ter-Petrosyan wasforced to resign as president after advocating concessions tosettle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Election observers from the Organisation for Security andCooperation in Europe were to give their verdict on the votelater on Wednesday. Their assessment is likely to be a keyfactor in whether the opposition protests build momentum.
Previous elections in Armenia, an ancient Christian nation,have been followed by days of opposition protests allegingballot fraud.
A new round of protests will be a test for stability in acountry which, in the 1990s, was rocked by politicalconvulsions.
(Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Writing by Michael Stott,editing by Ralph Boulton)
