ArmenPress
Aug 24 2004

OBSERVERS SAYS ELECTIONS IN NKR ON A HIGH LEVEL, FAIR AND TRANSPARENT

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS: Elections ended in Nagorno
Karabakh (NKR) with the second round of municipality elections in a
number of communities of the republic on Aug 22. Observers say they
passed on a high level, were fair and transparent, with almost no
violations reported at electoral committees. This testifies effective
work at local electoral committees and high activity of the
constituency.
The results of the first stage of elections on Aug 8 indicated
that in 22 communities, including Stepanakert, no candidate has won
more than half of votes. According to NKR law on Elections of Local
Self Government Bodies, Central Electoral Committee decided to hold
the second stage of elections on Aug 22. Particularly bitter fight
was staged among 5 candidates for the mayor of Stepanakert in the
first stage. After announcing the results of the first stage, it was
clear that two candidates, Pavel Najarian and Eduard Aghabekian
passed into the second round.
Interestingly enough, higher voter activity was observed in the
second stage of elections in the capital. According to Central
Electoral Committee, votes were divided in the following way in
Stepanakert elections: among 17,039 voters 9427 or 55.3 percent voted
for Eduard Aghabekian and 6619 votes went for Pavel Najarian.
According to the acting law, Eduard Aghabekian has become the mayor
of Stepanakert with three years term.