Indirect presidential elections were held in the unrecognised

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh cont ...

on 19 July 2017. The incumbent,

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan (; born 30 August 1960) is an Armenian politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving president of Artsakh. He was first elected ...

, was elected to a third term.

Background

After a

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

in 2017, the country is transitioning from a

semi-presidential system A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliament ...

to a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

. As a result, presidential elections were delayed until 2020 in order to be held alongside legislative elections. In July 2017, the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

elected the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

for the next three years until the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Candidates

Two candidates were registered. The Democratic Party of Artsakh nominated the incumbent president

Free Motherland Free Motherland (, ''Azat Hayrenik kusaktsutyun'') abbreviated as ԱՀԿ or AHK was a political party in Artsakh. The party was formed on 29 January 2005. Initially, the party consisted of four co-presidents: Arayik Harutyunyan, Arthur Tovmas ...

and the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenians, Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, Literal translation, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalist a ...

also supported the incumbent. While,

Movement 88 Movement 88 () was a political party in Artsakh. History The party was part of an electoral alliance with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, that won 3 out of 33 seats in the National Assembly following the 2005 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentar ...

nominated former

Stepanakert Stepanakert officially Khankendi is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. It was the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in ...

Mayor Eduard Aghabekyan.Bako Sahakyan re-elected President of Artsakh
mediamax, 19 July 2017

Results

28 members of National Assembly voted for Bako Sahakyan, 4 of them voted for Eduard Aghabekyan, while one of the MPs abstained.

References

{{Portal bar, Politics Artsakh Artsakh Presidential elections in the Republic of Artsakh 2017 in the Republic of Artsakh