Voters go to polls in Nagorno Karabakh enclave

Tehran Times
June 20 2005

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan (AFP) – Voters went to parliamentary polls
Sunday in the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh, a mostly
ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, amid strong opposition
from Azeri authorities.

Seven parties and 185 candidates were vying for places in Nagorno
Karabakh’s fourth parliament, with two thirds of the parliament’s 33
seats to be elected directly and one third under a proportional system.

Nagorno Karabakh’s authorities have said the vote is a chance to
prove to the world the territory’s independence.

“I voted for stability, independence and prosperity,” Nagorno
Karabakh’s leader, Arkady Gukasyan, said after casting his ballot.

It was essential, Gukasyan said earlier, that the vote come up to
European standards in order to avoid harming Nagorno Karabakh’s image
and “the process of peaceful settlement with Azerbaijan”.

But Azerbaijan, which claims the territory, said any vote in the
region would remain illegal until hundreds of thousands of Azeris
banished from Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding regions were
allowed to return.

“Armenia is zealous to legalize the occupation… elections and
referenda on the occupied territories must be conducted only after
the territory’s restoration to Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijan’s election
commission said in a written statement on Saturday.

Nagorno Karabakh is widely seen as propped up by Armenia, which fought
a war with Azerbaijan over the territory in 1993 and 1994 that left
an estimated 25,000 people dead and forced a million people from
their homes, three quarters of them Azeri.

On Friday, Turkey, long at odds with Armenia and a staunch supporter
of Azerbaijan, joined its ally in criticizing the poll.

No foreign governments have sent observer missions, reflecting the
territory’s unresolved status.

But as voting got under way Sunday, monitors from non-governmental
organizations reported a number of minor violations.

Supporters of Araig Horutyunyan, a candidate closely linked to Nagorno
Karabakh’s leader, “were actively proselytizing” near polling stations,
said Antranig Kasabarian, local representative of the Tufenkian
foundation, a New York-based aid group.

Earlier, Gukasyan had rounded on opposition parties, accusing them of
“insinuations” and “libel” after they accused senior Karabakh officials
of abusing their positions in order to win support.

“False rumors were circulated that the authorities sanctioned pressure
on the electorate, threatened people… this didn’t and couldn’t
happen,” Gukasyan said.

Turnout was steady, with 21.8 percent of voters casting ballots by
11:00 am (0600 GMT), according to elections chief Sergey Nasibyan,
bringing the turnout close to the 25 percent threshold for the results
to be declared valid.

The unrecognized Nagorno Karabakh Republic has a population of
145,000. It is spread over eight regions of Azerbaijan including
Karabakh itself and comprises 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s overall
territory.

Preliminary poll results are expected late Monday or early Tuesday.

The parliament is elected for a five-year term.