ACCORDING TO NKR PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN NKR HAVE TAKEN PLACE

STEPANAKERT, JULY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Sergey Nasibian, the Chairman of
the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh,
summerized the participation data of the elections and stated that
the presidential elections in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh have
taken place. According to him, 53.8% of applicants had already voted
by 14:00. The number of voters in the Republic makes 91 thousand and
166, according to the national register.

The preliminary results of the elections will be published in 24
hours after the end of the ballot, and as for the final results,
they will be summarized in 72 hours.

It should be mentioned that five candidates are taking part in the
presidential elections: Masis Mayilian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, Hrant Melkumian, the Leader
of the Communist Party, Armen Abgarian, an MP in the NKR National
Assembly, Bako Sahakian, the former Chief of the NKR Security Service,
and Vanik Avanesian, a Professor in the State University of Artsakh.

In response to journalists’ questions concerning the numerous
statements made by the headquarter of Masis Mayilian, according to
which there are infringements in the electoral proceedings, Bako
Sahakian estimated it as black PR, which is being used in Nagorno
Karabakh for the first time. And in response to the question of
whether his rivals will stay at their posts in case he is elected,
Bako Sahakian declared: "My rivals will not be prosecuted. I was
struggling with the "Together for Artsakh" slogan and intend to act
this way in the future as well."

During the whole day of the elections the pre-electoral headquarters of
Masis Mayilian raised alarm warning against infringements being made
during the elections: for example, when the empowered person of Masis
Mayilian was entering the polling station, he stopped Karin Balayan,
a member of the Commission, with a ballot-paper marked opposite the
name of Bako Sahakian in the hand.

It should also be mentioned that Azerbaijan, Turkey, the organization
of Georgia, the Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, a number of European
institutions, and NATO have declared that they will not recognize
the results of the NKR presidential elections.