AZERIS CONSIDER MAKING STIR BEFORE EVERY ELECTION IN NKR THEIR DUTY

Pan Armenian News
02.06.2005 08:01

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In neighboring Azerbaijan they consider it their
duty to raise a stir over legitimacy and legality of every election
conducted in the NKR, stated Chairman of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Central Electoral Commission Sergey Nasibian when commenting upon the
statements of the officials of Azerbaijan that any election conducted
in Nagorno Karabakh were not valid, reported the NKR Foreign Ministry
Press Service. In this connection, the NKR CEC Chairman noted that the
people of Nagorno Karabakh had solved the issue of its status long
ago, having declared in 1991 the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on the
basis of international law and having confirmed it via a referendum
December 10, 1991. Currently, the NKR is a de-facto established
independent state, which legally holds presidential, parliamentary
and municipal elections. The election to the NKR National Assembly,
scheduled on June 19, 2005, is the forth parliamentary election in the
history of its independent statehood. Three nation-wide presidential
elections and the same quantity of elections to the self-governing
bodies have been conducted earlier. As reported by S.Nasibian, today
the republic’s Central Electoral Commission and electoral district
commissions realize all the preparatory and organizational measures
aimed at the conducting of fair and transparent election meeting
democratic principles. “Local and foreign observers, who watched the
course of elections in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic many times,
noted the higher level of elections in the NKR in comparison with
those in Azerbaijan. It’s likely that it is one of the reasons of the
Azerbaijani party’s sick excitement about the coming parliamentary
elections in the republic”, S.Nasibian said, noting that the elections
in Azerbaijan itself, according to the evaluations of international
observers, were invariably accompanied with gross violations of
the generally accepted norms and did not correspond to the European
standards. According to him, the NKR electoral commissions are very
resolute to continue the good traditions and do their best in order
the coming parliamentary elections become a regular step in the
establishment of the Karabakh state, strengthening the statehood and
further development of democracy. “The Azerbaijani party’s anxiety that
the elections will become an obstacle for the peaceful settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, are quite groundless. On the contrary,
the presence of legally elected authorities of Nagorno Karabakh can
only stimulate the negotiation process”, the NKR Central Electoral
Commission Chairman noted.