FREE HOMELAND PARTY LEADS COUNT IN KARABAKH PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

The Financial
May 25 2010
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — YEREVAN. According to preliminary results in Nagorny
Karabakh’s parliamentary polls, the Free Homeland party is leading in
the ballot count, the breakaway republic’s central elections committee
said on May 24, RIA Novosti informed.

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The predominantly ethnic Armenian region, at the center of a dispute
between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan since
the late 1980s, elected its 33-seat parliament on Sunday with voter
turnout of 67.8%.

The elections were monitored by more than 100 international observers.

“According to preliminary results, the Free Homeland party headed
by Prime Minister Ara Arutyunyan has garnered 64% of votes. In the
second place is the Democratic Party of Artsakh headed by parliamentary
speaker Ashot Gulyan, with 20.2% of votes,” the committee spokesman
said.

He added that the Communist Party, with only 4.8% of the vote, had
not cleared the 6% barrier for entry into the parliament.

Azerbaijani elections officials have called the elections “illegal,”
saying they could seriously harm the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
efforts.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh
first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from
Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people are estimated to have died on both sides between
1988 and 1994, when a ceasefire was agreed. Nagorny Karabakh has
remained in Armenian control and tensions between Azerbaijan and
Armenia have persisted.

The conflict has been mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group that comprises
the United States, Russia and France.

From: A. Papazian