NAGORNYY KARABAKH OFFICIAL BRUSHES ASIDE WORLD BODIES’ REMARKS ON KARABAKH POLLS

Arminfo, Yerevan
19 Jul 07

Stepanakert, 19 July: The people of Nagornyy Karabakh will be
active today, and we will have good results at the end of the day,
the parliament speaker of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR],
Ashot Ghulyan, said after he cast his vote in Stepanakert’s polling
station No 7/3 today.

He reiterated that the election in Nagornyy Karabakh is not conducted
on a non-alternative basis and it cannot be considered as being
a unipolar election. He also dismissed the statements about using
administrative resources during the election campaign. "Such complaints
are natural, especially during the election period," he said.

Commenting on the statements by international bodies that they do
not recognize the NKR presidential election, Ghulyan said, "We do not
have to always react to such statements. The people’s choice and the
citizens’ attitude to the president are what matters."

[Passage omitted: reported background]