Armenia geared up for upcoming presidential election

YEREVAN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Armenia has geared up for Tuesday's presidential election as the final large-scale pre-election campaigning coming to an end in the capital of Armenia of the South Caucasus nation on Sunday.

Large-scale rallies were organized on the Liberty Square in the capital during the weekend attended by tens of thousands of supporters of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosian-- first President of Armenia, who are making last-minute effort for canvassing as any campaign is forbidden on Monday.

Sargsyan, also Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia which won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections last May, leads the race joined by eight other candidates in opinion polls.

"We can't say the situations now are perfect because Armenia is so young, but I believe in Armenia's future with our new president," Airmen Yesayants, a graduate of Armenian State University who participated in Sunday's rally for Sargsyan, told Xinhua.

No "color revolution" will occur in Armenia, President Robert Kocharian, who is barred from running for a third five-year term, said in an interview with national television channels on Sunday.

"Naturally enough, foreign countries and various forces abroad have their preferred candidates, but we do not see any crude interference in the election process," he said.

Observers from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), one of the six international observers monitoring the election, released a second interim report on Sunday.

"In the opinion of CIS observers, the main preparations for the Armenian presidential election are proceeding in line with the electoral code. The country's legislative and executive authorities have created proper conditions for a free and open election campaign," the report said.

Armenia's electoral code "guarantees a solid foundation for free and democratic elections," the CIS observers said.

Observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights issued an interim report on Saturday which says that the Central Electoral Committee (CEC) is well prepared for the forthcoming election.

The CEC said there are 2.32 million eligible voters of the approximate 3 million people in the country, who will go to 1,923 polling stations in 41 electoral districts scattered around the mountainous country. According to Armenian Election Code, citizens living abroad do not have the right to take part in the election.

According to Socio service's report last week, majority of Armenian voters have decided on their candidate, but there were still 7 percent did not know whom to elect yet.