On July 19, as a result of the presidential elections held in Nagorno Karabakh the incumbent president Bako Sahakyan was re-elected to his post by receiving 47,085 votes (66,70%). An army general Vitali Balasanyan placed the second in the race with 32,50% of the votes or 22,966 ballots. 0,8% or 594 voters voted for the third candidate Arkady Soghomonyan. In general, approximately 80 observers participated in the elections from the US, Canada, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Bulgaria, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay, Great Britain and other counties. There were also statesmen monitors from the Republic of Armenia. The elections were covered by a dozen prominent media outlets. The 9-member Armenian delegation consisted of government and opposition MPs gave a positive assessment about the conduct of elections. Despite the high turnout the elections proceeded in a quite calm and peaceful environment. There was no tension. "The elections held in NKR fully conformed to elections held in western countries. Honey we are so happy that today our elections resemble western standards. Let the whole world know that Karabakh is free and that we have independence here. Only the ones who went through the war can appreciate this, the fact that today we are going to vote for a president. Let the whole world know that today we are electing a president," said one of the associates in the small kitchen of a hotel while quickly making coffee for international monitors. The unnoticeable excitement of the woman has turned into a feeling of pride. In her words, this is the most important day of their lives because on that day they are proving to the world their independence. Everything is peaceful in Artsakh except for the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderline where the situation gets tense from time to time. On July 19, the ribbons and posters pasted in various corners of streets would remind of the presidential elections – "Today is the voting day of NKR president." The active attendance of constituents to precincts would also remind of that. Seemingly the environment inside election percents is also quiet and peaceful. According to an Argentinean monitor Fabian Bosoer, who was monitoring the elections in precinct 3 located in Aygestan village, the elections of NKR president were a step forward. "This was also a step to make the international community recognize NKR’s independence. I think it is very difficult to speak about such a complicated geopolitical issue as the NKR conflict. We should speak about the human rights. We have been following the process of elections since morning and I can say that they proceed in a quite interesting manner. We see very free and fair elections. It is evident that there is no serious competition between the nominated candidates. And in this regard it is a little difficult to speak about their differences. The elections are not over but even now it’s clear that the incumbent president will be re-elected," said Bosoer, who believes that Artsakh has a big history in its politics, which also creates certain responsibility for them. In the words of an MP of Uruguay Susanna Pererier she is a member of the parliamentary friendship group of Uruguay and Armenia and it’s no accident that she has visited Artsakh. "I have visited various regions of Artsakh and am very impressed by the election conduct. I have realized that people are showing not only to elections but also to defend their rights and history. Uruguay is the country that has been next to Armenia in the recognition of its rights and was the first country that officially recognized the genocide. As of the NKR conflict resolution then Uruguay has always been supporting the peaceful resolution of the conflict. The use of rice must be excluded. The matter must be resolved only through negotiations," noted Pererier. According to the latter, the elections proceed free and fair. According to UK monitors interviewed by us there were a few discrepancies, such as the boxes in select precincts were not properly sealed, the stamp wasn’t properly maintained, etc. They have considered all this insignificant discrepancies. They added that based their experience they can claim that the elections proceeded in accordance with international democratic standards. By the way, the poll-watchers of the two candidates Bako Sahakyan and Vitali Balasanyan would also give the same opinion when I interviewed them in two precincts. They have excluded any attempt of pressure or intimidation. Let me add that the third presidential candidate Arkady Soghomonyan didn’t have proxies in the mentioned precincts. They were explaining this by the fact that on the same day the candidate had a grandson and that his proxies went to hospital. After the closing of precincts at 8p.m. we went to the central headquarters of Vitali Balasanyan, which was located in the second floor of the appliance store. In order to get to the office, we had to walk in between the aisles of washing machines, stoves, which has even bewildered us. At the moment of our visit Balasanyan was speaking on the phone. Former presidential candidate Masis Mayilyan and others were also at the headquarters. After he got off the phone we asked him to answer a few questions, specifically what he thought of the conduct of elections, what violations took place and whether there were any protocols received about falsification. To our surprise Balasanyan said that he’d answer our question about the conduct of elections after the results of elections are publicized. As to the question whether he would congratulate the winning president Balasanyan said, "If there are violations I will not." As to the question whether there were violations Balasanyan said, "Yes there is such information. We’ll check and get back to you. There are many missing people especially from Kashatagh, Shahumyan, Martakert." And when we tried to ask our next question Balasanyan screamed by saying that he had agreed to answer only one question. Balasanyan said that he would apply to the court by all means to examine the violations they had observed.
