Artsakh Holds Parliamentary Elections

ARF Garners around 20 Percent of Vote, Gains 3 Majoritarian Seats

STEPANAKERT, NKR (A.W.)—The Nagorno Karabagh Republic (NKR, or Artsakh) held its 6th legislative elections on Sun., May 3, in which 7 parties competed for 33 seats—11 majoritarian and 22 proportional.

According to preliminary results, NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan’s Free Motherland Party received 47.5 percent of the vote; the Democratic Party of Artsakh, led by Speaker of the NKR Parliament Ashot Ghulyan, garnered 19.1 percent; the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) led by NKR Deputy Prime Minister Artur Aghabekyan, received 18.8 percent; Movement 88, led by former Deputy Defense Minister and former NKR presidential candidate Vitaly Balasanyan, received 6.93 percent; and the National Rebirth party, led by Hayk Khanumyan, received 5.38 percent.

On May 4, a day following the elections, the ARF Artsakh Central Committee held a meeting and released a statement thanking those who voted for the ARF.

“The [ARF Artsakh] Central Committee is proud to announce that by securing approximately 20 percent of the of the overall vote and winning three majoritarian seats, the ARF will have a larger presence in the country’s sixth parliament and thus become the second most represented party in Artsakh,” read a part of the statement.

The elections saw a 70.6 percent voter turnout—that is, out of 102,034 eligible voters, 72,039 participated in the elections.

About 100 international and 110 local observers monitored the course of the elections. Overall, the observers concluded that the elections complied with international democratic norms.

According to CivilNet, several observers from the United States were in Nagorno-Karabagh to monitor the elections, including the chairman of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, Andreas Borgeas; Nareg Kitsinian, Esq., and Tereza Yerimyan of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Western Region; the director of UC Berkeley Law’s Election Administration Research Center, Karin MacDonald; the executive director of PAROS Foundation, Peter Abajian; Santa Cruz county clerk Gail Pellerin; and UC Davis student Kristin Abajian.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) deployed a 10-member team of professional short-term observers (STOs) from Austria, Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Romania, and the Netherlands to observe the ongoing elections. A team of journalists, politicians, and activists organized by the EAFJD also closely followed the elections.

Artsakh’s Central Election Commission is set to publicize the final election results on May 11.

Markarian: Artsakh a top priority

“Just as we came together and worked hard to properly commemorate the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide in Armenia and around the world, we must work collectively for the future of Artsakh,” said ARF Bureau representative Hrant Markarian, who was in Stepanakert during Artsakh’s official commemoration of the Centennial of the genocide, in a recent interview with Yerkir Media.

'We have fought tooth and nail for Artsakh and continue to do so today'
ARF Bureau representative Hrant Markarian

Speaking about the political atmosphere in Artsakh leading up to the elections, Markarian noted that the mood was generally positive. “Everything seems to be peaceful. There is a sense of mutual respect between political powers in Artsakh, a positive atmosphere for fair elections,” he said.

Commenting on the ARF’s role in the country, Markarian noted that the party has always been an influential force in the country, both during the Artsakh War and during its statehood. “Over the past 25 years, we [the ARF] have always been a presence in Artsakh. Even in our activity outside of the country, Artsakh has always been a top priority… We have fought tooth and nail for Artsakh and continue to do so today,” said Markarian.

On April 30, the OSCE Minsk Group, the main international body responsible for advancing a peaceful resolution of the Karabagh conflict, issued a statement regarding the elections. While the Minsk Group recognized the right of the people of Karabagh to hold elections, its statement said it would not recognize the results of the elections. “In the context of a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, we recognize the role of the people of Nagorno-Karabagh in deciding their future. However, none of our three countries, nor any other country, recognizes Nagorno-Karabagh as an independent and sovereign state. Accordingly, we do not accept the results of these ‘elections’ as affecting the legal status of Nagorno-Karabagh, and stress that they in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno-Karabagh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict,” read the statement.

Representatives of the European Union (EU) and the United States issued similar statements. “I believe the statements of the EU and U.S. to only [represent] one side of the situation. The other side is that the world powers are responding to the Karabagh people’s struggle for freedom,” the director of European Friends of Armenia, Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, said.

 

Rupen Janbazian

Rupen Janbazian

Rupen Janbazian is the editor of Torontohye Monthly. He is the former editor of The Armenian Weekly and the former director of public relations of the Tufenkian Foundation. Born and raised in Toronto, he is currently based in Yerevan.
Rupen Janbazian

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5 Comments

  1. The article begins with ”7 parties” in the text taht follows only 3 are mentioned . What are the others ?

    • Dave,
      Seven parties – the Communist Party of Artsakh, Movement 88, National Revival, the Democratic Party of Artsakh, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Free Homeland, Peace and Development – participated in the elections.
      The five political parties mentioned in the article secured enough votes to be represented in the sixth Parliament.

  2. I’m glad to see the ARF has a noticeable presence in Artsakh now, unlike Armenia where it is still by and large marginal. I guess old habits die hard, but since Artsakh had to build from the ground up again after the war, those who took part in its struggle have found their proper places in the Artsakhtsi society.

    One complaint I do have, I wish there wouldn’t be so many political parties both in Artsakh and Armenia. And I wish that Bolshevism/Communism would disappear altogether, it has no place in Armenia’s future, nor culture, nor mindset. But like I said, old habits die hard, in this case unfortunately.

    And also the most laughable part during the elections was when the genocidal duo Turk-baijan claimed the elections were “illegal”. Yeah right, a state which met and exceeded all the norms of modern civilization is being claimed to be “illegal”, coming from two of the worlds two biggest totalitarian dictatorships.

    • two of world’s biggest criminal states:

      Turkey: founded on the colossal crime of Armenian (and Assyrian, and Pontic Greek) Genocide (…albeit Erdogan/AKP having been democratically elected by majority voters of Turkey).

      ‘Azerbaijan’: a fake, criminal, terrorist state run by the Crime Syndicate of the Aliyev Clan Mafia Family.

      It is hilarious that these criminal states established by nomadic Turkic invaders from Uyguristan on lands of others are allowed by the so-called “World Community” to comment on what indigenous, sedentary, civilized Armenians do on their own lands.

      Here is something for the nomads to chew on:
      [Azg: European values were present in Karabakh, 1,500 years ago
      YEREVAN. – Preaching European values in Armenia has become new-fashioned in recent years. But experience has shown that those preachers simply are not aware of the political and juridical heritage of their own people, Azg daily writes.
      By the initiative of King Vachagan Barepasht (“the Pious”) of Karabakh (Artsakh) and Utik, a Constitution was adopted 1,500 years ago, in the early 500s, whose rewritten version, which was prepared in 1288, is still kept at Armenian capital Yerevan’s Matenadaran (Armenian ancient manuscript museum). At the initial phase, the draft Constitution was sent to different dwelling areas, where meetings and discussions were held, the people gave their consent, and subsequently the King convened a large national congress, and only after which the Constitution was adopted through a referendum. At the same time, the congress was chaired by a rank-and-file soldier. These methods emerged in Europe 800-1,000 years later.
      The First Armenian Constitution is the most vivid example of the fact that, if the natural development of our (Armenian) statehood had not been interrupted by 600-700 years, perhaps we would have been the locomotive of those values which today are the foundations of western democracy.]( November 02, 2011 )(http://news.am/eng/reviews/2568.html)

      “….if the natural development of our (Armenian) statehood had not been interrupted by 600-700 years,…”
      My note: not been interrupted by savage, nomadic, uncivilized, barbarian Turkic tribes invading from East and Central Asia.

  3. Good revelation Avery. I totally agree, it saddens me when I think what could of been of our culture, people and country, had we not been subjected to uncivilized, savage nothings of humanity. And so many things in Europe can be traced back to Armenia, but once again, “our friends” who always seem to get a stomach ache when confronted with Armenian history, quickly revert to claims of “Armenian nationalism” when any of that history is revealed, as if that has any bearing on historical facts.

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