NKR President Bako Sahakyan believes there is an opposition in the country.

“I think there is an opposition in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is natural,” Sahakyan told journalists on May 23.

“Over the years we have had an opportunity to see there is an opposition in our country. However, we did not seek to artificially form an opposition during this period. I believe we were right,” Sahakyan said.

“If we take such steps, it will be a flagrant violation of democratic principles,” NKR President stressed.

On May 23, the parliamentary elections were held in Nagorno-Karabakh. At 8:00 p.m. local time, 272 polling stations opened in 16 constituencies. One is in the NKR Permanent Representation in Yerevan.

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 Homeland 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 elections to be considered valid.

At the last parliamentary elections in Artsakh on June 19, 2005, by proportional representation the Democratic Party of Artsakh received 12 seats, Free Motherland, ten, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun-Movement-88, three. The eight other seats were taken by independent candidates.

L.A.