ArmInfo. The situation in Artsakh following the March 31 elections is rather strange, it closely resembles the situation in Armenia following the 2017 parliamentary elections. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo Director of the Armenian Center for National Strategic Studies Manvel Sargsyan.
"The authorities of Artsakh are still hoping, in my opinion, rather presumptuous that they will be able to ascribe victory to themselves after the second round of elections. Artsakh residents didn't allow this to happen after the first round. I am convinced that they will never allow anyone to wrest their consent to the unjustified intentions of the authorities. The same will happen when the bubble bursts into which the Artsakh authorities themselves have turned themselves, time will tell, "he stressed.
As a result of the presidential elections held in Artsakh on March 31, not one of the candidates won 50% of the vote. With the most votes in the first round, Araik Harutyunyan – 49.6% and Masis Mayilyan – 26.7% will have a second round, which, according to the Constitution, will be held two weeks after the first. However, on April 5, Masis Mayilyan called on the Artsakh people to boycott the second round, making it impossible to carry out the threat of the spread of the coronavirus.
The parliamentary elections ended with the passage of five political forces in the Artsakh National Assembly. These are the parties "Free Homeland", "United Homeland", "Justice", ARF and "Democratic Party of Artsakh".
Sargsyan recalled that his spokesman announced the victory of Harutyunyan on the night of April 1, which was even accompanied by an attempt at a festive fireworks display in Stepanakert. And quite a few believed that falsification of the election results would allow Harutyunyan to complete them in the first round, which his supporters did not hide. Nevertheless, by two o'clock the CEC, citing preliminary data, announced that Harutyunyan did not have 0.8% of the vote to win. And, accordingly, announced the second round.
The general perplexity, according to the analyst, provoked Harutyunyan's instant and unconditional agreement with the preliminary data of the CEC, which he did not even try to double-check. Thus, however, only at first glance, the situation following the election results looked rather mysterious. In reality, people who tried to end the elections in the first round, using an administrative, financial resource, deliberately misinforming and intimidating voters, simply found themselves in an unusual situation. "All these plans were thwarted by the citizens of Artsakh with their active civic stance. It was they who clearly demonstrated the impossibility of dictating their conditions to them by people from the past. The latter belatedly realized that intimidation, pressure on citizens through an administrative resource to ascribe to themselves the victory in the elections today is no longer enough. In in the most terrible dream, these people couldn't see the situation when there seemed to be a vote, but it was impossible to declare victory. thoughtful attitude towards citizens, especially during the election period, "the analyst concluded.