Politics of Nagorno-Karabakh
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Artsakh |
| Constitution |
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Legislature |
| Administrative divisions |
Politics of Nagorno-Karabakh takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nagorno-Karabakh is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh is the head of government, and of a multi-party system; as of 2009, American-based non-governmental organisation Freedom House ranks the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic above both Armenia and Azerbaijan in terms of political and civil rights.[1][2][3] Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the Government and the National Assembly. The republic is de facto independent and de jure a part of Azerbaijan. None of the elections in Nagorno-Karabakh are recognised by international bodies such as the OSCE Minsk Group, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as numerous individual countries, such as Azerbaijan and Turkey, who also condemned and called them a source of increased tensions.[4][5][6]
Executive branch
| Office | Name | Party | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Bako Sahakyan | Independent | 7 September 2007 |
| Prime Minister | Arayik Harutyunyan | Free Motherland | 14 September 2007 |
The President is directly elected for a five-year term, by the people. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and approved by the National Assembly.
Legislative branch
The National Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov) has 33 members elected for a five-year term, 16 in single seat constituencies and the remaining 17 by proportional representation. Nagorno-Karabakh has a multi-party system, with numerous political parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.
Recent elections
2015 parliamentary election
| Party | Party-list | Constituency | Total seats |
± | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Seats | % | ||||
| Free Motherland | 32,632 | 47.35 | 11 | 4 | 15 |  1 | ||
| Democratic Party | 13,105 | 19.10 | 4 | 2 | 6 |  1 | ||
| ARF | 12,965 | 18.81 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | ||
| Movement 88 | 4,778 | 6.93 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| National Revival | 3,709 | 5.38 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Communist Party of Artsakh | 1,136 | 1.65 |  | |||||
| Peace and Development | 591 | 0.86 | | |||||
| Non-partisans/Independents | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||||
| Invalid votes | 3,380 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Total | 72,296 | 100.00 | 22 | 11 | 100.00 | 33 | — | |
| Electorate and turnout: | 102,042 | 70.88 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Source: CEC, CEC, Caucasian Knot | ||||||||
2012 presidential election
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Bako Sahakyan | 47,085 | 64.65 |
| Vitaly Balasanyan | 22,966 | 31.53 |
| Arkady Soghomonyan | 594 | 0.81 |
| Blank or invalid | 2,188 | 3.00 |
| Total votes cast | 72,833 | 100.00 |
| Turnout | 72,833 | 73.64 |
| Abstention | 26,076 | 26.36 |
| Total eligible voters | 98,909 | 100.00 |
| Source: Panorama, RIA Novosti | ||
See also
References
- ↑ freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
- ↑ freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
- ↑ freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
- ↑ "EU does not recognize ‘elections’ in Nagorno Karabakh". News.Az. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ↑ Mustafa Pazarlı. "US will not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's elections". Videonews.us. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ↑ Mushvig Mehdiyev. "OIC condemns "elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh as illegal". AzerNews.az. Retrieved 7 June 2016.