Recurrent parliamentary election will be held in the Nagorno the Karabakh Republic on June 19. This would be the fourth election in the NKR. Meanwhile the OSCE Minsk Group is carrying on searching for ways for conflict settlement, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan are engaged. However politicians in Stepanakert adhere to the opinion that the elected NKR authorities only are empowered to hold negotiations on behalf of the NKR people. To note, Armenian President Robert Kocharian defined the optimal status of Nagorno Karabakh as "independence in the foreseeable future" and "a part of Armenia in long-term outlook." The acting one-house National Assembly was elected June 19, 2000. It is composed of 33 deputies elected by majority system for a 5-year term. The President elected by common voting for 5 years possesses supreme state power. According to the data available by January 1, 2005 the NKR population makes 146.6 thousand people.