President Sarkissian congratulates Irish counterpart on re-election

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian congratulated today President of Ireland Michael Higgins on being re-elected to office.

In the cable Sarkissian expressed conviction that Higgins’ activities and ambitious plans will contribute to the development and prosperity of Ireland.

“Armenia is ready to develop relations with Ireland in both bilateral and multilateral formats for the benefit of our countries,” Sarkissian, in part, said in the telegram, according to his office.

Michael D Higgins has been re-elected as Irish president after receiving 56% of the country's election vote.

Businessman Peter Casey came second with 23.1%, while none of the other four candidates polled more than 10%.

Higgins, the first incumbent in 50 years to face a challenge in his bid for a second term, won with 822,566 votes.

Voters were given a white ballot paper for the presidential election and a green ballot paper for the referendum on blasphemy.

Voters also supportedthe proposal to remove blasphemy as an offence from the Constitution, with 64.85% voting yes.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan