Armenia ruling party 'wins election'

President Serzh Sarkisian's governing Republican party led with 44.69 percent of the vote after three-quarters of the 1,982 polling stations had counted ballots from Sunday's contest, the Central Election Commission said.

Its outgoing coalition partner turned poll rival, the Prosperous Armenia party, was running second on 30.61 per cent.

Trailing far behind, the opposition Armenian National Congress bloc was third on 6.72 percent, according to the commission results, posted on its website.