Presidential elections were held in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 July 2012.[1] Incumbent PresidentBako Sahakyan was re-elected for a second five-year term, receiving around two-thirds of the vote.
Campaign
Four candidates registered to run in the election; incumbent President Bako Sahakyan, Deputy Minister of Defence Vitaly Balasanyan, the rector of Stepanakert University Arkady Soghomonyan and Valery Khachatryan.[1] Khachatryan later pulled out of the election race.[2]
As part of the campaign, Balasanyan sent an open letter to Sahakyan, claiming that "authorities have accumulated a vast experience of fraud, illegal involvement of law enforcement and national security agencies in the electoral processes, an inflation of the number of voters on voters’ lists, different kinds of pressure on voters, etc. This has led to apathy in society, distrust of people in the electoral process in the country and a decline of the image of the state."
Campaigning ended on 17 July at midnight, with no campaigning allowed on the day before the election.[1]
Conduct
The elections were attended by more than 100 observers; among them were 80 international observers from countries including Russia, Armenia, the United States, France, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium, Israel, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria. A total of 93 journalists were accredited to cover the elections, 50 from foreign media.[3]
Results
A total of 98,909 voters registered for the elections.[4] Voting took place in 274 electoral districts, with an additional polling station in Yerevan, Armenia.[1]
Due to Nagorno-Karabakh's being de jure part of Azerbaijan, recognised as such by the international community, the election did not receive international support.