US experts happy with “election process” in breakaway Karabakh

Arminfo, Yerevan
26 Jul 04

STEPANAKERT

International experts are closely following the situation in Nagornyy
Karabakh and have not registered any violations in the election
process over this period, the president of the Project on Transitional
Democracies and the head of the US Senate Committee on NATO, Bruce
Jackson, said at a meeting several days ago with the head of the
Central Electoral Committee CEC of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic NKR,
Sergey Davidyan. Jackson was on a one-day visit to Stepanakert.

Our Arminfo correspondent reports from Stepanakert that during the
meeting, Davidyan familiarized the guests with the NKR’s election
law. He said that the referendum on independence and a number of
presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections have been held in
Nagornyy Karabakh since the republic was proclaimed in 1991. Davidyan
informed the experts about preparations for the upcoming elections to
local government bodies on 8 August. Davidyan said that the NKR
adheres to democratic values, and the conduct of free and fair
elections was only a mechanism for forming legitimate authorities in
the republic.

According to the CEC, 375 candidates for community leaders have been
registered in the NKR. Commissions have registered 1,582 of the 1,708
candidates for membership of the councils of elders. Ten people have
been nominated for mayor of Stepanakert, however, only six candidates
are continuing the struggle at the moment, while 46 of the 52
candidates for membership of the council of elders have been
registered.