Politics of Artsakh

Politics of Artsakh takes place within the constraints of a written constitution, approved by a popular vote, that recognises three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch of government is exercised within a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Artsakh is both the head of state and the head of government. The legislative branch of government is composed of both the Government and the National Assembly. Elections to the National Assembly are on the basis of a multi-party system. As of 2009, the American-based non-governmental organisation, Freedom House, ranks Artsakh above both Armenia and Azerbaijan in terms of political and civil rights.[1][2][3] The republic is de facto independent and de jure a part of Azerbaijan. None of the elections in Artsakh are recognised by international bodies such as the OSCE Minsk Group, the European Union or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have condemned the elections and called them a source of increased tensions.[4][5][6]

Political System of Artsakh
Արցախի հանրապետության պետական համակարգ

Coat of arms of Artsakh
Polity type	Unitary presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of Artsakh
Legislative branch
Name	National Assembly
Type	Unicameral
Presiding officer	Ashot Ghulian, President of the National Assembly
Executive branch
Head of State and Government
Title	President
Currently	Arayik Harutyunyan
Cabinet
Current cabinet	Second Harutyunyan government
Ministries	15
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of Artsakh

Executive branch

Arayik Harutyunyan
4th President of the Republic

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Arayik Harutyunyan	Free Motherland	21 May 2020

The President is directly elected for a five-year term, by popular vote.

Current government

Grigori Martirosyan
State Minister of the Republic

Legislative branch

Artsakh Presidential Palace

National Assembly of the Republic
Moment of silence

Ashot Ghulian
Speaker of the National Assembly

The National Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov) has 33 members who are elected for a five-year term by Party-list proportional representation. Artsakh has a multi-party system, with numerous political parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Judicial branch

Narine Narimanyan is the Head of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Artsakh.

Latest elections

Presidential election

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Arayik Harutyunyan	Free Motherland - UCA Alliance	36,076	49.17	39,860	88.01
	Masis Mayilyan	Independent	19,360	26.39	5,428	11.99
	Vitaly Balasanyan	Justice	10,855	14.79
	David Ishkhanyan	Armenian Revolutionary Federation	1,873	2.55
	Ashot Ghulian	Democratic Party of Artsakh	1,683	2.29
	Hayk Khanumyan	National Revival	962	1.31
	Vahan Badasyan	United Armenia Party	743	1.01
	David Babayan	Artsakh Conservative Party	587	0.80
	Ruslan Israelyan	Generation of Independence Party	371	0.51
	Christine Balayan	Independent	202	0.28
	Ashot Dadayan	Independent	198	0.27
	Bella Lalayan	Independent	162	0.22
	Sergey Amiryan	Independent	160	0.22
	Melsik Poghosyan	Independent	141	0.19
Total			73,373	100.00	45,288	100.00
Valid votes			73,373	96.55	45,288	96.02
Invalid/blank votes			2,622	3.45	1,876	3.98
Total votes			75,995	100.00	47,164	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			104,866	72.47	104,777	45.01
Source: CEC, CEC

Parliamentary election

Logo of the
Free Motherland party

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Free Motherland - UCA Alliance	30,015	40.80	16	+1
	United Motherland	17,683	24.04	9	New
	Justice	5,867	7.98	3	New
	Armenian Revolutionary Federation	4,758	6.47	3	–4
	Democratic Party of Artsakh	4,314	5.86	2	–4
	New Artsakh Alliance	3,385	4.60	0	New
	National Revival	2,175	2.96	0	0
	Artsakh Conservative Party	2,156	2.93	0	New
	Artsakh Revolutionary Party	1,325	1.80	0	New
	United Armenia Party	930	1.26	0	New
	Generation of Independence Party	551	0.75	0	New
	Communist Party of Artsakh	402	0.55	0	0
Total		73,561	100.00	33	0
Valid votes		73,561	96.82
Invalid/blank votes		2,419	3.18
Total votes		75,980	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		104,866	72.45
Source: CEC, Armenanews

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Elections in Artsakh
• Foreign relations of Artsakh
• List of political parties in Artsakh
• Armenakan Party (Nagorno-Karabakh)
• National Assembly (Artsakh)
• Politics of Armenia

References

1. freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
2. freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
3. freedomhouse.org: Map of Freedom in the World, Freedom House, 2009
4. "EU does not recognize 'elections' in Nagorno Karabakh". News.Az. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
5. Mustafa Pazarlı. "US will not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's elections". Videonews.us. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
6. Mushvig Mehdiyev. "OIC condemns "elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh as illegal". AzerNews.az. Retrieved 7 June 2016.

External links

• The Artsakh Republic Central Electoral Commission