2008 Presidential Election
Sargsyan, with President Kocharyan's backing, was viewed as the strongest contender for the post of the President of Armenia in the February 2008 presidential election. Full provisional results showed him winning about 53% of the vote, a first round majority, well ahead of second place candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian. The 2008 Presidential election 2008 Armenian presidential election was hailed as largely democratic by OSCE, the European Union (EU) and Western monitors.
Ter-Petrossian's supporters, disputing the official results, held large protests in Yerevan for over a week following the election, until they were violently broken up on March 1; ten people (8 protestors and 2 police officers) were killed, and a state of emergency was imposed for 20 days, ending on March 20, 2008.
Read more about this topic: Serzh Sargsyan
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