Armenian opposition MP praises polls in Karabakh

Arminfo
22 Jun 05

Yerevan, 22 June: The 19 June parliamentary elections in the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic [NKR] were conducted in an atmosphere of free
dialogue. This is how Arshak Sadoyan, leader of the Union of National
Democrats and an MP from the opposition Justice bloc, described the
parliamentary elections in the NKR today.

The MP said he was satisfied with getting a Niva jeep right after
arriving in Stepanakert as an observer two days prior to the
voting. Thanks to that he and his colleague from the Union of National
Democrats, Mamikon Mneyan, managed to visit 13 polling stations in
Stepanakert, Mardakert , Askeran and even in Agdam District on the
election day.

Sadoyan admitted that although he had “hinted” in his conversations
with members of the electoral commissions that they tell him about any
pressure on them or on the usage of administrative resources, nobody
told him anything of the sort. The shortcomings noted by Sadoyan
during the elections were of technical nature – some polling stations
were overcrowded and voters in the country were unaware of the notion
of proportional representation.

“Compared with the outrage which took place during all the elections
in Armenia starting from 1991, all this can be dismissed as completely
insignificant details,” Sadoyan said.

Commenting on the defeat of the bloc of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD] and Movement-88 in the elections,
he said that the ARFD has to look for the roots of its defeat in the
victory of the ARFD candidate in the Stepanakert mayor elections.

“Voters told me – a year on and nothing has changed. Many were puzzled
– the ARFD is in the ruling coalition in Armenia but it is an
opposition party in Karabakh. All this misunderstanding played its
role during the elections,” Sadoyan said.