It’s not the first time that the democratic processes in Nagorno-Karabakh show the functioning of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as a republic. This is what head of the delegation of observers from the National Assembly of Armenia during the elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan declared during a joint press conference held in Stepanakert today, responding to the question whether the absence of international observers and several mass media outlets will serve as an occasion to declare the elections as invalid.

According to Simonyan, there are no doubts and can’t be doubts about the level of development of elections in Karabakh.

“There is no problem with legitimacy. I don’t think the presence of many observers would lead to radical changes,” Simonyan said.

The Central Electoral Commission of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has officially released the preliminary results of the presidential elections held on March 31. Based on the results, none of the candidates garnered more than 50% of the votes, and a second stage has to be held on April 14.

The top three candidates are Arayik Harutyunyan (36,076 votes or 49.26%), Masis Mayilyan (19,360 votes or 26.4%) and Vitaly Balasanyan (10,755 votes or 14.7%).