NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S SAAKYAN LEADS IN ELECTION

Reuters AlertNet, UK
July 19 2007

STEPANAKERT, July 20 (Reuters) – Bako Saakyan, former head of the
security service in Nagorno-Karabakh, was on course to become leader
of the breakaway republic, early election results showed on Friday.

Saakyan, 46, was leading with 87.1 percent of the vote after about
60 percent of ballots had been counted, deputy head of the election
commission Seyran Hayrapetyan told Reuters.

Masis Mailyan, Saakyan’s main opponent, had received 10.9 percent of
the vote. Muslim Azerbaijan, which lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh
after a war against Armenia in the early 1990s, has denounced the
election as illegal under international law.