PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN KARABAKH FREE AND LEGITIMATE: RUSSIAN OBSERVERS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 20 2007

STEPANAKERT, July 20. /ARKA/. The presidential elections in Karabakh
were free, transparent, and legitimate, and were held on an alternative
basis, the report of the Russian observers’ mission, which conducted
monitoring of the presidential elections in the NKR July 19, says.

According to it, Russian observers attended many polling stations,
supervised the CEC’s work, and the procedure of vote counting.

According to evaluations of the Russian mission, the NKR CEC did
much work to hold these elections at a professional level. Also,
high evaluation was given to divisional election committees in the
course of voting and vote counting.

"We did not record considerable violations in registration, voting,
vote counting, and transportation of protocols from polling stations
to the CEC. Cases of officials’ intervention in committees’ work were
not recorded at none of polling stations, including administrative
and law enforcement authorities," the observers reported.

According to the observers’ mission’ report, the recorded remarks
drawbacks in the work of election committees were just technical,
and all measures were taken to eliminate them.

"Transparent ballot-boxes were used for voting, and that ensured
transparency of the elections. The vote counting was effective and
transparent, and observers’ were allowed to learn about the election
results, samples of voting bulletins, and meeting protocols," members
of the Russian observers’ mission said.

They emphasized the high activity of voters, their motivation, and
civil position. They thanked the NKR Foreign Ministry and Central
Election Committee for their assistance. The Russian delegation affirms
that democratic changes, achieved in the NKR, openly demonstrate
to the international community that the NKR’s statehood has been
established and keeps developing in keeping with democratic procedures.

At the same time, the members of the Russian observers’ mission
are sorry for conclusions of some foreign observers’ mission, and
believe that the NKR has historical and political-legal grounds for
international recognition of its state independence.

"The NKR’s democratic achievements require support and recognition of
the international community that would contribute to resolution to the
Karabakhi conflict as soon as possible. It would meet the interests
of the region and the entire international community," the report says.

The presidential elections in the NKR were held on July 19. According
to tentative data of the NKR CEC, presidential candidate Bako Sahakyan
leads the elections with 85.42% or 57,828 votes of the total number
of citizens, participating in the elections.

Bako Sahakyan is followed by Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan
with a considerable gap. He collected 8,270 votes, or 12.21%.

According to the NKR CEC, a total of 71,285 citizens, i.e. 77.36%
voters, went to the elections.