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 Kocharyan: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 16 March 1998, with a second round on 30 March. [1] The result was a victory for independent candidate Robert Kocharyan, who won 58.9% of the vote in the second round. Turnout was 63.5% in the first round and 68.1% in the second. [2]
The first round was held on 16 March 1998. [3] Prime Minister and acting President Robert Kocharyan and Karen Demirchyan, the leader of Soviet Armenia from 1974 to 1988, won the most votes: 38.5% and 30.5% respectively. [4] Demirchyan, who came in second, had been absent from politics for 10 years and had been in business. [5]
Demirchyan was seen as a good old man from the Soviet times who could "return to the certainties of the past and distaste for mafia capitalism personified by Ter-Petrosyan's rule." [5] Demirchyan was very popular among the Armenian public. [6] [7] [8] A poll quoted by Western diplomats, showed that Demirchyan had the support of the 53% of Armenians, while Kocharyan was favored by only 36%. [9] He was also preferable for the West, since he had more moderate approach to the Karabakh conflict, while Kocharyan was seen as more likely to take a hard line because of his deep connections with Karabakh (Kocharyan is a native of the region and was previously president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). [5] Demirchyan was also favored by Russian leaders, who considered Kocharyan an obstacle to the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. Russia's foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov openly endorsed Demirchyan, while Kocharyan was depicted by Russian television as "pro-Western" and "a radical." [10]
The second round of the election was held on March 30 between Kocharyan and Demirchyan. Kocharyan won with 58.9% of the vote. The final results showed Demirchyan having only 40.1% of the vote. [4] The British Helsinki Human Rights Group claimed that "ordinary Armenians turned to Robert Kocharian as someone untainted by mafia connections and the intrigues of Yerevan politics." [5] The OSCE observation mission described the first round as "deeply flawed," [11] while their final report stated that the mission found "serious flaws" and that the election did not meet the OSCE standards. [12] Although Demirchyan didn't officially dispute the election results, he never accepted them and did not congratulate Kocharyan. [13] [14]
| Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Robert Kocharyan | Independent | 545,938 | 38.50 | 908,613 | 58.91 | |
| Karen Demirchyan | People's Party of Armenia | 431,967 | 30.46 | 618,764 | 40.12 | |
| Vazgen Manukyan | National Democratic Union | 172,449 | 12.16 | |||
| Sergey Badalyan | Armenian Communist Party | 155,023 | 10.93 | |||
| Paruyr Hayrikyan | Union for National Self-Determination | 76,212 | 5.37 | |||
| Davit Shahnazaryan | Independent | 6,798 | 0.48 | |||
| Artashes Geghamyan | National Accord Party | 6,314 | 0.45 | |||
| Vigen Khachatryan | Democratic Liberal Party | 3,999 | 0.28 | |||
| Hrant Khachatryan | Constitutional Rights Union | 2,943 | 0.21 | |||
| Aram G. Sargsyan | Democratic Party | 2,710 | 0.19 | |||
| Yuri Mkrtchyan | Independent | 2,511 | 0.18 | |||
| Ashot Bleyan | New Path | 1,559 | 0.11 | |||
| Against all | 9,509 | 0.67 | 14,890 | 0.97 | ||
| Total | 1,417,932 | 100.00 | 1,542,267 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 1,417,932 | 97.38 | 1,542,267 | 98.38 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 38,177 | 2.62 | 25,435 | 1.62 | ||
| Total votes | 1,456,109 | 100.00 | 1,567,702 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,293,636 | 63.48 | 2,300,816 | 68.14 | ||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||||
Hrant Mikayelian, researcher at the Caucasus Institute, estimated, based on turnout analysts, that actual results of the first round were as follows: Kocharyan at 32.6%, Demirchyan at 33.5%, Manukyan at 13.3% and Badalyan at 12%. As for the final result, Mikayelian estimated that Kocharyan would still win if no electoral violations took place, but with a smaller margin: 50.6% vs Demirchyan's 48.3%. [15]
The politics of Armenia take place in the framework of the parliamentary representative democratic republic of Armenia, whereby the president of Armenia is the head of state and the prime minister of Armenia the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the Government and Parliament.
The history of Armenia covers the topics related to the history of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenian people, the Armenian language, and the regions of Eurasia historically and geographically considered Armenian.
Vazgen Zaveni Sargsyan was an Armenian military commander and politician. He was the first Defence Minister of Armenia from 1991 to 1992 and then from 1995 to 1999. He served as Armenia's Prime Minister from 11 June 1999 until his assassination on 27 October of that year. He rose to prominence during the mass movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia in the late 1980s and led Armenian volunteer groups during the early clashes with Azerbaijani forces. Appointed defence minister by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan soon after Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in late 1991, Sargsyan became the most prominent commander of Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. In different positions, he regulated the military operations in the war area until 1994, when a ceasefire was reached ending the war with Armenian forces controlling almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts.
Robert Sedraki Kocharyan is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second President of Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and as Prime Minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998.
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Although he considered himself cheated of victory, Demirchian tacitly accepted that outcome, bid his time and ultimately went for a deal with the party of power--Sarkisian's Republicans.
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