[6] Prosperous Armenia's Gagik Tsarukian, a business oligarch, whose party had the second largest faction in parliament endorsed Serzh Sargsyan.

He accused Kocharyan of running "an institutionalized mafia-style regime" that was responsible for massive corruption involving the theft of "at least three to four billion dollars" over the previous five years.

At the opening of campaigning, Ter-Petrosyan fiercely denounced Sargsyan and Kocharyan, accusing them of "thieving and anti-popular" rule, and said that he was certain of victory, while acknowledging "disappointments" and "harsh criticisms" regarding his earlier presidency during the 1990s.

For his part, Baghdasarian released a 32-page manifesto for his campaign, vowing to "eliminate corruption and embezzlement" and to provide "equality before law" and "a drastic rise in the living standards of the people".

Hovhannisyan, meanwhile, was a candidate despite the participation of his party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in the governing coalition; his campaign promises included the break-up of monopolies, the promotion of economic development, and anti-corruption measures.

Geghamyan, the National Unity Party's candidate, devoted the opening of his campaign to denouncing Ter-Petrosyan and accused others in the opposition of smearing him.

[21] Both the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Union have commended the conduct of the election and stated that they regard the result as broadly democratic.

It notes in particular that, according to ODIHR, improvements and additional political will are necessary to tackle concerns such as the lack of public confidence in the electoral process, the absence of clear separation between state and party functions and ensuring equal treatment of candidates.

The European Union looks forward to the final results of the presidential election and calls on the competent authorities to ensure that complaints are adequately investigated and shortcomings addressed.

We urge the Government of Armenia to ensure these recounts are conducted comprehensively and transparently, investigate all allegations of irregularities, and implement steps to improve future elections.

On 1 March the demonstrators were violently dispersed by police and military forces, killing at least 10 people and President Robert Kocharyan declared a 20-day state of emergency.