Armenia; while he acknowledged flaws in the election, he said that they did not affect the outcome. The opposition requested dozens of recounts. In one of them, on 21 February, in a central Yerevan precinct showed that Sargsyan had won 395 votes there, rather than the 709 with which he had been credited in the initial count; votes had been taken from other candidates and added to Sargsyan's score. A criminal case was opened by state prosecutors regarding this possible fraud, and the chairman of the precinct commission was arrested. Recounts in over 30 other precincts showed results similar to the initial counts. Sargysan told police to investigate alleged electoral violations on 22 February. Final results, released by the Central Electoral Commission on 24 February, confirmed Sargysan's victory, crediting him with 52.82% of the vote (862,369 votes); Ter-Petrosyan received 21.5% (351,222 votes) and Baghdasarian was said to have won 17.7% (272,427 votes). A post-election poll conducted by the British Populus Opinion Polling Center between 21 and 24 February confirmed the Central Electoral Commission's results giving Sargsyan 53%, Ter-Petrosyan 20%, and Baghdasaryan 13% of the vote. Sargysan was inaugurated as the third President of Armenia on 9 April 2008. Results International reactions 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. The European Commission said: "The European Union congratulates the Armenian people for the conduct of a competitive presidential election in Armenia. The European Union notes the statement of preliminary findings and conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission which concluded that the presidential election in Armenia, an important test for democracy in this country, was conducted mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards. The European Union welcomes the genuine efforts that were made to address the shortcomings in previous elections. However, the EU also notes that the report raised concerns about the electoral process and that further improvements are necessary to address the remaining challenges. 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