Parliamentary elections were held in the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan ...

on 23 May 2010.

Background

Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence from

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

in 1991. The

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...

took place between 1988 and 1994 which resulted in Nagorno-Karabakh, with

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n support, becoming de facto independent from Azerbaijan. However it has not been internationally recognised and Azerbaijan still claims the area as part of its state. Several changes to the election process were made since the previous election in 2005. Whereas previously, 22 of the parliament's 33 seats were filled using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

and 11 using

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

, the distribution for these elections is 17–16. Another change concerns the lowering of the

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

from 10% to 6% (for political parties) and from 15% to 8% (for electoral blocs). A total of 94,900 voters are registered for the election, about 66% of the total population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Contesting parties

Before the elections, it became clear very few opposition parties would contest. Four parties contesting the 17 list-based seats are registered:

Free Motherland Free Motherland ( hy, «Ազատ Հայրենիք» կուսակցություն, ''Azat Hayrenik kusaktsutyun'') abbreviated as ԱՀԿ or AHK is a political party in Artsakh. The party was formed on 29 January 2005. Initially, the party consis ...

(FM), led by Prime Minister

Arayik Harutyunyan Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan ( hy, Արայիկ Վլադիմիրի Հարությունյան; born 14 December 1973) is an Armenian politician who has been serving as the President of Artsakh since 2020. He was formerly the 1st State Minister fr ...

, the

Democratic Party of Artsakh The Democratic Party of Artsakh ( hy, Արցախի ժողովրդավարական կուսակցություն; DPA, ''ԱԺԿ'') is a political party in the Republic of Artsakh. It was founded on 30 January 2005. Before that, in 2000–2005 ther ...

(DPA), the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

(ARM) and the

Communist Party of Artsakh The Communist Party of Artsakh () is a communist political party in the Republic of Artsakh. History The party failed to receive any seats in the National Assembly following the June 2005 elections, the May 2010 elections, and the May 2015 electi ...

(CPA). Of these parties, only the communists did not support president Bako Sahakyan in the 2007 election. 44 More candidates stand for election in the 16 FPTP constituencies.

Opinion polls

Results

With about 50% of the votes counted, Free Motherland led the count with 45.8% of the votes. The DPA was at 30.7% and the ARF at 18.2%. The CP was below the electoral threshold of 6% (5.34%), which means it might be difficult for them to get a seat. The Communist Party failed to cross the electoral threshold and did not win any seats.

Reactions

About 120 international observers from France, Russia, USA, Italy, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Argentina, Ireland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iran, Netherlands, Canada, Slovakia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, and others, as well as a big group of observers from Armenia observed the elections. Later the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast stated that Iran had not delegated any observers. Azerbaijan made a black list of the international observers who visited Nagorno-Karabakh and declared them ''personae non-gratae''. Various international organisations and countries issued statements refusing to recognise the 2010 elections in Nagorno-Karabakh, among them the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, the United Kingdom, France,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

.Lithuania confirms non-recognition of "parliamentary elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh
Inform.kz. Retrieved on 13 January 2012.

References

{{Portal bar, Politics

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

Elections in the Republic of Artsakh

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results