YEREVAN, Armenia -- Around 100 members of the opposition in the Caucasus Republic of Armenia were jailed after protests against first-round results of presidential elections, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The opponents of incumbent President Robert Kocharyan were to be jailed for 15 days for involvement in mass demonstrations after the February 19 polls, DPA reported.

Some 40,000 people gathered on the streets of the capital Yerevan at the weekend. Claiming falsification of the results they demanded that runner-up Stepan Demirchyan be declared the outright winner.

Kocharyan took 49.8 percent of 1.4 million votes cast compared to the challenger's 28.3, according to official results. A runoff vote will take place on March 5.

Western observers noted some "serious irregularities" but did not say these were extensive enough to invalidate the results.