July 20, 2007 - 17:17 AMT
Serbian observer: Nagorno Karabakh held worthy presidential elections
The presidential elections in Nagorno Karabakh were held on proper level, no serious violations were fixed during the voting process. Everything was held in compliance with democratic norms, observers from France, Macedonia and Serbia stated in the end of NKR presidential elections July 20. Observer from Serbia Mila Alevković shares the opinion of her colleagues adding that if there were violations, they were insignificant. "Nagorno Karabakh held worthy presidential elections," she stated adding she had come to such a conclusion after having visited several regions of Nagorno Karabakh and capital Stepanakert in the voting day.

As to the opinions that conduction of democratic elections in Nagorno Karabakh may become precondition for his international recognition, Alevković underlined it is a wrong approach. "It is necessary to take into account the geopolitical situation in the world. Today our Russian colleagues too stated that they recognize NKR's independence but are against Kosovo's sovereignty," she underscored adding that all this has a political reasons since soon after recognizing independence of one of the unrecognized states a chain reaction will proceed, which is a wrong approach, IA Regnum reports.

According to the preliminary results of the NKR CEC (Central Electoral Commission), participation in the elections reached 77.36%. Bako Sahakyan received 85.42% of votes. Former Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailman occupied the second place in the presidential race with 12.21% of votes. Deputy Armen Abgaryan comes in the third place, who received 1.26% of votes. Communist Hrant Melkumyan gathered 0.8% and lecturer at the Artsakh State University Vanya Avanesyan -0.3% of votes.