Armenia leader set to win re-election, rival cries foul

Incumbent Serzh Sarkisian took a commanding lead following Armenia's presidential election Monday, officials said, while his main challenger refused to acknowledge defeat, crying foul.

Early tallies from more than 30 percent of precincts showed Sarkisian leading with 61.82 percent of the vote compared with 33.62 percent for former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian, the Central Elections Commission said.

Turnout was 60 percent in the polls seen as a crucial democratic test for the former Soviet state.

Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman of Sarkisian's ruling Republican Party, said exit polls showed the president "was the only favourite" and called the vote "the best in the history of independent Armenia", rejecting allegations of fraud.

But Hovannisian insisted that he was the true winner and called on Sarkisian to concede defeat.

Sarkisian "must become Armenia's first president who recognises the people's victory," Hovannisian said.

Hovannisian's campaign has alleged a range of sometimes bizarre violations, such as the use of "vanishing ink" to allow multiple voting and "caravans" of taxis and buses to take pro-government voters to the polls.

Police have dismissed the allegations as an "obvious fiction".