May 23 morning NKR President Bako Sahakyan and his spouse arrived at one of the polling stations in Stepanakert to vote in the parliamentary elections, the NEWS.am correspondent reports.

Talking to journalists, NKR President noted that he expects the new Parliament to work better. “I think we have all prerequisites for our new parliament to meet our country’s demands at a higher level,” said Sahakyan, stressing that he was proud to vote at the elections. “It is pleasant to live in a country where values are respected,” he added.

The President underlined that the day before he had met with representatives of the country’s political forces and of the government agencies in charge of the elections. “I would like to express my gratitude, but first I thank the Artsakh people for realizing the importance of this event,” the NKR leader said.

The parliamentary elections were held on a mixed proportional and single-member basis. Four political parties laid claims to 17 out of 33 seats in the NKR Parliament: Free Motherland led by NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan (a 35-member list), Democratic Party of Artsakh led by Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulyan (a 32-member list), Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnakstutyun (ARFD) (a 10-member list), and the Communist Party of Artsakh led by Hrant Melkumyan (a 5-member list). Forty-six candidates claim 16 seats in 16 single-member constituencies. The voters’ lists include 94,900 citizens. A voter turnout of 25% has to be registered for the election results to be valid.

A.G.