Ottawa – International observers, monitoring the July 19, 2012 presidential election in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, presented preliminary reports that the election was free and fair, and that theoutcome reflected the democratic will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Among the international observers monitoring the election was Canadian Member of Parliament theHonourable Jim Karygiannis, the Liberal Party of Canada Multiculturalism Critic. Mr. Karygiannisjoined the international observation mission despite attempts from Azerbaijani authorities to denyCanadian Members of Parliament the opportunity to observe firsthand the conduct and outcome of theelection.
According to Mr. Karygiannis, his team observed the voting taking place at a number of pollingstations and spoke to members of the campaign staff for all the presidential candidates. Mr.Karygiannis was overall impressed with the conduct of the election, and agreed with the generalconsensus of the international observation mission.
Armenian National Committee of Canada President Dr. Girair Basmadjian stated “Once again thepeople of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have expressed their desire to govern themselves and livedemocratically in their ancestral lands. We congratulate the citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh on yetanother model example of democracy in action. We would also like to congratulate the President-electand wish him, and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Godspeed as they continue to build a countrybased on peace and democracy.”
Dr. Basmadjian added that, “Canadian-Armenians would like to thank the Honourable JimKarygiannis for his participation in the international observer mission despite undue pressure fromAzerbaijani authorities. We are heartened to hear that the government of Azerbaijan was unsuccessfulin its attempts to thwart an international observers mission to this election.”
The current presidential election represents the fifth such election since 1991. Elections in theNagorno-Karabakh Republic have been, in the past, characterised by international observers as beingan exemplary model in the region.
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The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian grassroots political organization. Workingin coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliatedorganizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Canadian-Armeniancommunity on a broad range of issues.
