Armenians vote in poll seen as test of democracy

YEREVAN, May 12 (Reuters) Armenians began voting today in a parliamentary election seen as a test of democracy in the Caucasian country and a dress rehearsal for a presidential contest next year.

The Republican party led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan -- a trusted lieutenant and favoured successor to President Robert Kocharyan -- is expected to easily defeat the opposition when 2.3 million voters in ex-Soviet Armenia go to the polls.

''If the Republican party gets enough votes in the ... election and my party puts forward my candidacy for the presidential election, I will take this offer with pleasure,'' Sarksyan told Reuters in an interview yesterday.

Kocharyan is to step down early next year when his second term ends, triggering a presidential election.

Western monitors said Armenia's last parliamentary poll fell short of democratic standards, and the opposition has threatened street protests if there is ballot fraud today.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am local time. Only one man was waiting to cast his ballot at a polling station in central Yerevan when voting began.

Armenia nestles high in the mountains of a region that is emerging as a vital transit route for oil exports from the Caspian Sea to energy-hungry world markets, though it has no pipelines of its own.

Armenia fought a still-unresolved war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. It also has fraught relations with Turkey, in part because Ankara will not recognise as genocide the killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Armenia refused entry visas to eight Turkish nationals who were to be part of a 400-strong election observer mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

OPPOSITION DIVIDED Voters today are expected to credit Kocharyan's allies for the years of strong economic growth he has overseen. The opposition meanwhile is divided and its members say they are not given fair treatment on tightly controlled television.

Opposition leaders have said they will stage street protests if there are any electoral violations today.

''If there is ballot fraud in parliamentary election, I'll be the first who will go to the street,'' said Artur Baghdasaryan, leader of opposition party Orinats Yerkir (Country of Laws), which is seen by analysts as the strongest opposition force.

Smaller opposition groups may also win seats, although opinion polls suggest the chief challenger to the Republican party is the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia, set up by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan.

International observers say Armenia should hold fair elections to amend its image spoiled by the last parliamentary election, in 2003, which was described by Western monitors as falling short of democratic standards.

''Armenian authorities have made a number of changes to the election code and to the whole process to tackle some of the serious problems that came up last time,'' Urdur Gunnarsdottir, a spokesperson for the OSCE/ODIHR monitoring group, told Reuters.

''The real test is on election day and during counting. It's important for Armenia to show that authorities are capable of holding democratic election. That is a corner stone.'' Simmering tensions burst to the surface last month when gunmen tried to kill a senior member of Sarksyan's party and two blasts ripped through the offices of Prosperous Armenia.

The violence has revived memories of a 1999 shootout in parliament that killed the speaker and the prime minister.

REUTERS SZ RK0925