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.
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.
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