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. Some members of the opposition suggested that Geghamyan was working for the government in an effort to undermine Ter-Petrosyan. Ter-Petrosyan criticized Baghdasarian for running his own campaign instead of rallying behind Ter-Petrosyan's candidacy, calling him a "traitor" and saying that he was effectively supporting Sargsyan. After Baghdasarian rebuffed Ter-Petrosyan's ultimatum, a pro-Ter-Petrosyan newspaper, Haykakan Zhamanak, insinuated that Baghdasarian was a "sexual deviant." Aside from his own Republican Party, Sargysan was endorsed by Prosperous Armenia. It was considered very likely that Sargsyan would finish in the first place in the first round, with either former president Ter-Petrosyan or Baghdasarian, who ran on a pro-EU and pro-NATO platform, in second place. First results and reports from OSCE election observers were expected on 20 February 2008, and the final result was to be announced within seven days. According to exit polls, Sargsyan won the election in the first round with 57%, with Ter-Petrosyan coming in second with 17%. The opposition parties have stated that they consider the election result fraudulent. Ter-Petrosyan, claiming victory, accused the government of rigging the election and called for a rally in Yerevan on 20 February that would protest the official results and celebrate his claimed victory. OSCE and Western monitors said that the election was largely free and fair. However, the report from the OSCE-led observers also described vote counting as "bad or very bad" in 15% of the observed polling stations, and Edgar Vazquez of the United States Department of State said that the U.S. was "concerned" about this. On 20 February, results from all 1,923 polling stations showed Sargsyan with 52.86% of the vote (863,544 votes). Ter-Petrosyan was placed second with 21.5% (351,306 votes) and Baghdassaryan was placed third with 16.67% (272,256 votes). Hovannisyan placed fourth with 6.2% and Manukyan placed fifth with 1.5%; the other candidates received less than 1% of the vote. Voter turnout was placed at about 70%. Sargysan thanked the people for giving him "overwhelming support" and said that he would be "the president of all Armenians". A spokesman for Sargysan's Republican Party claimed that the election was the most democratic ever held in