Appendix of N 85 decision of July 20, 2015 of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Central Electoral Commission
REPORT
ON THE ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF MAY 3, 2015 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS OF THE NAGORNO- KARABAKH REPUBLIC, ANALYSIS ON THE VIOLATIONS OF THE ELECTORAL CODE AND RECOMMENDATIONS
General overview
By PD-15-N decree of February 12, 2015 of the NKR President “On appointing regular elections to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly” regular elections to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly were appointed on May 3, 2015. The preparation and organization of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly elections of May 3, 2015 were implemented in line with the requirements of the new Electoral Code of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (hereinafter NKR) which had been adopted on October 29, 2014 and put into action on January 1, 2015.
The Electoral Code contains a lot of news, a number of legal relations have been subjected to new regulations. It should be noted that the draft of the Electoral Code passed active public and parliamentary phases of discussions.
Acording to the requirements of Article 17 of the NKR new Electoral Code by the N 15-N decision of January 28, 2015 of the NKR Central Electoral Commission 11 constituencies equal to the number of the mandates of the deputies to the National Assembly under the majoritarian system were formed. And as compared to the previous elections the number of deputies to the NKR National Assembly under the majoritarian system has changed from 16 to 11, so the borders of the new constituencies had been reviewed. While forming the constituencies the geographical, topographical and physical features of the areas, availability of the means of communication, social and other administrative factors, as well as, the number of the voters which compiled 99 921 voters according to the data provided by the NCR Police as of January 1, 2015 were taken into account.
By N 59 P decision of February 13, 2015 of the NKR Central Electoral Commission there were established those territorial electoral commissions to whom had been reserved powers to organize and hold elections in the respective communities. In the 10th constituency which included all the communities of Shoushi and Kashatagh's regions, the powers to organize and conduct elections had been given to the Territorial Electoral Commission of Kashatagh, and in the 11th constituency which inluded all the communities of Shahoumyan's region, 12 communities of Askeran's region and 16 communities of Martakert's region the powers to
1 organize and conduct elections had been given to the Territorial Electoral Commission of Martakert.
Within the powers established by Article 48 of the NKR Electoral Code the NKR Central Electoral Commission organized the whole process of the elections and performed control over the legality of the elections.
On February 13, 2015 the NKR Central Electoral Commission approved the schedule of the main events of the organization and conduct of the NKR National Assembly elections, which included data arising from the new Electoral Code put into force on January 1, 2015, starting from appointing of the election day till summing up the results of them, about the terms ( conduct of the events) and responsible performers of the planned 115 main events. According to the schedule the start of the aforementioned electoral events was given on February 13, 2015.The deadline of the submission of the registration documents of the candidates, as well as, electoral lists of the political parties was established since March 9, 2015 to March 19 till 18.00, registration term since March 19, 2015 to March 29 till 18.00, the period of the pre-election campaign since March 30, 2015 to May 1 till 24.00.
In connection with the preparation and conduct of regular National Assembly elections on May 3 ,2015 89 178 200 AND drams were provided by the costs estimates of the NKR electoral commissions ( Central Electoral Commission and Press Center, 6 territorial and 279 precinct electoral commissions). Among the expenditures a significant part compiled the amounts of compensations and salaries provided to around 2600 commissioners and other workers involved in the organization and conduct work of the elections; around 63 060 200 drams or 70,7% of the total expenditures.
On March 4, 2015 the NKR Government adopted a decision on supporting the electoral commissions in the process of the organization and conduct of the elections, in which he touched upon the tasks of various departments. On 28 March Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan convened an enlarged working consultation dedicated to the holding the 2015 parliamentary elections. Representatives of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, political and public sector were invited to the consultation. President Sahakyan gave concrete instructions to the concerned bodies towards the proper organization of the elections, outlining that everything possible must be done to hold the elections in strict correspondence with the letter and spirit of the law and ensure full exercise of the citizens’ voting rights. In line with the requirements of the NKR electoral Code 279 polling stations were compiled ( including the city of Yerevan and penitentiary in Shoushi), equally were the precinct electoral commissions which organized and conducted the voting. 109 international observers from 28 countries, as well as, 111 observers from 3 local organizations were accredited by the procedure defined by the NKR Electoral Code and carried
2 out observation mission during the preparation, conduct and summary of the results of the NKR National Assembly elections. The voting of the regular elections to the NKR National Assembly took place on May 3, 2015.The preliminary results of the voting were published on May 4, 2015 at 13.00. The final results of the voting of the deputies under the majoritarian system were published by the respective territorial electoral commissions by May 7, 2015 and the voting results of the deputies under the proportional system were published on May 10, 2015 by the Central Electoral Cpmmission. According to the protocol on the voting results of May 3, 2015 NKR National Assembly elections on the proportional system the total number of the voters compiled 102 042, the number of the participants of the voting -72 296 or 70,8percent of the total number of the voters. The number of the ballots provided to the precinct electoral commissions was 103 699, the total number of the cancelled ballots was 31 401, the number of the invalid ballots was 3380 (4,7 percent). The number of the ballots voted “for” for each political party compiled as follows;
«Free Motherland» party -32632 (47, 35%) «National Renaissance» party -3709 (5,38 %) «Artsakh Democratic» party -13105 (19,01%) «NK Communist» party -1136 (1,65%) «Peace and Development» party -591 (0,86 %) «Armenian Revolutionary Federation» party -12 965 (18,81 %) «Movement-88» party -4 778 (6,93%):
The total number of the inaccuracies was 15.
According to N 83-I decision of May 10, 2015 of the NKR Central Electoral Commission eleven deputies out of the electoral list of the political party “Free Motherland”, one deputy from the electoral list of the political party “National Renaissance” four deputies from the electoral list of «Artsakh Democratic» party, four deputies from the electoral list of «Armenian Revolutionary Federation» party and two deputies from the electoral list of «Movement-88» party were elected deputies to the NKR National Assembly under the proportional system. In accordance with the 12th paragraph of part 1 of Article 48, the 6th and 7th Parts of the 123rd article of the NKR Electoral Code , taking into account the applicatins of Arayik Harutyunyan (the party of “Free Motherland”), Suren Grigorian (“Democratic Party of Artsakh”), Arthur Aghabekyan (Party “Armenian Revolutionary Federation”) and Valery Balayan (Party “Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutiun “) to abandon the deputy mandate included in the electoral lists of parties that won at least 5 percent cast ”yes “ballots from the amount of the inaccuracies and the total number of ballot “Yes” ballots and took part in May 3, 2015 regular elections to the National Assembly of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by the proportional electoral system, and the fact of the election on majoritarian system of Arthur Tovmasyan , Arzik Mkhitaryan (the party of” Free Motherland ” ), Vahram Balayan (Party “Armenian Revolutionary Federation”) and Vitaly Balasanyan (the party “Movement-88″), 3 included in the electoral lists of parties, on May 18, 2015 NKR Central Electoral Commission made a protocol at the meeting on registration of the NKR National Assembly deputies by the proportional system and providing them certificates of a deputy ( the list of the newly elected deputies to the National Assembly is attached)
The organization and conduct of May 3, 2015 NKR National Assembly elections,analysis of irregularities
1) Making normative decisions
According to the regulations of the NKR Electoral Code, the NKR Central Electoral Commission, immediately after the Electoral Code came into force, adopted 58 normative decisions, by which separate electoral legal relations were subjected to more detailed regulations. The aforementioned decisions according to the requirements of the NKR Law "On legal acts" were registered by the Ministry of Justice and published in one unified guidebook of NKR departmental normative acts ( N02 (117) of 30.01.2015). All the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission were also posted on the official website of the commission.
Organization of the professional training courses
According to Part 3 of Article 39 of the NKR Electoral Code those citizens can be involved in the composition of the precinct electoral commissions who passed the professional training courses by the procedure defined by the Central Electoral Commission and received qualification certificates According to Part 5 of the same article the professional training courses for the conduct of the elections organizes and holds the Central Electoral Commission according to its established procedure. The professional training courses are organized in the city of Stepanakert and in the regions. The qualification certificates are given on the basis of a test. According to the mentioned legal regulations, as well as, taking into account the fact that the political parties having fractions in the National Assembly can nominate those citizens to the members of the precinct electoral commissions who had qualification certificates, in September, November 2013 and in February, March, 2015 the Central Electoral Commission organized and held professional training courses for the conduct of the elections. 3286 citizens participated in the organized training courses and received certificates. Most part of them - 2497 people (76 %) were involved in the precinct electoral commissions during the National Assembly elections held on May 3, 2015. All the participants were informed about the place and time of the organization of the training courses in advance, this information was also posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission. The training courses were held in Stepanakert and all the regions of the Republic. The process of the organization and conduct of the training courses, as well as, testing and awarding certificates was not challenged by any person. 4
Unlike the previous years, the courses were mostly conducted by means of disputes, analysis of episodes frequently occurring in the electoral process and discussions. Training courses were also organized for the members of the territorial electoral commissions. After the formation of the precinct electoral commissions, seminars were conducted for the mentioned commission members.
3) Public awareness, publicity
According to Item 15 of Part 1 of Article 48 of the NKR Electoral Code, during each national election the Central Electoral Commission should publish a handbook for precinct electoral commission members, proxies and observers. The Central Electoral Commission ensured this provision, except for the manuals, publishing guidebooks of professional courses for conduct of the elections. Handbooks for the observers were also published in the foreign language (Russian, English) version. Posters of informational nature and a video of public awareness was published. Political parties participating in the elections on the proportional system and organizations performing observation mission were provided Electoral Codes. Moreover, observers and media representatives were also provided a trilingual media guide with rather comprehensive content about the electoral process ,as well as, other key information of the Artsakh Republic. A day before the voting day a briefing with the observers and media representatives was organized with the Chairperson of the Central Electoral Commission Srbuhi Arzumanyan; conferences were organized, articles and interviews were published, TV programs were broadcast. On the voting and following days round-the-clock briefings covering the whole electoral process were organized at the press center of the Central Electoral Commission, in which participated the Central Electoral Commission members, observers, as well as, representatives of other state bodies performing separate functions in the electoral process. The goal was to ensure full transparency and coverage of the electoral process. NKR Electoral Code defines the scope of persons who may participate in the sessions of the electoral commissions. The sessions of the electoral commissions were convened and held in line with the fundamental principles of the Electoral Code (publicity, transparency). Public notices on all the sessions were available, hearings were held openly. On election day, the electoral process was broadcast live on Public Television of Artsakh. Highlighting the availability of information on publicity and transparency of the elections, public confidence to the electoral process and rasing the level of the awareness of the voters, in January, 2015 a new website of the Central Electoral Commission in three languages (Armenian, Russian and English) versions -cecnkr.am was launched, (the previous version- cec.am, will be active for one-year term). As a novelty, the website has opportunities to follow you-tube and facebook pages of the Central Electoral Commission.
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The website contains the whole necessary information provided by the NKR Electoral Code. For the first time, manuals and handbooks published by the Central Electoral Commission were installed on the website with downloadable opportunity. The website contains analysis and reports on all the elections, referendums since 1991. You can get acquainted with the whole information possessed by the electoral commissions, electoral legislation, legal acts adopted by the Central Electoral Commission, events referring to the electoral processes. The voters register is posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission with the searchable opportunity, the data of which, by the way, are available for the visitors from the territories of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republic. A new section
4) The register of the voters, voter lists
The voter register is permanently maintained document, drawn according to the regions (city of Stepanakert) and communities. On the basis of the voters' register electoral lists of a community are compiled according to the precincts. In the previous years (in 2010 and 2012) during the national elections held in the NKR the comparative analysis of the voters involved in the electoral lists (including those involved in the voters' register) shows that the number of the voters has increased in 2015. Thus; During the National Assembly elections held on May 23, 2010 98 518 voters were included in the voter lists, and during the presidential elections held on July 19, 2012 99 227 voters were included in the voter lists, i.e. 709 persons more. At National Assembly elections of the NKR held on May 3, 2015 the number of the voters involved in the voters lists compiled 102 042 persons, i.e. 2 815 persons more (2,8 percent more) than at the presidential elections held in 2012 and 3 524 persons more (3,6 persons more) than at the National Assembly elections held in 2010. According to the data provided by the NKR Police no complaints on the inaccuracies of the electoral lists have been received by the voters a day before the voting. On the initiative of the NKR Police a number of activities had been performed referring to the correction of the voter lists, moreover, data of 148 dead citizens had been removed from the electoral lists, 14 persons having no registration were registered according to the residence and were included in the voter lists. 53 citizens who had not been registered in the voter lists were provided respective references for being included in the additional lists. Two days before the voting day the number of the voters in the additional lists provided to the electoral commissions compiled 269 persons. 6
The NKR Police, the body conducting the state population registry, twice a year- in July and January ( in two-weeks time) submits the register of the NKR voters according to the regions and communities, and in case of national elections also according to the precincts, no later than 41 before the voting day, to the Central Electoral Commission by e-mail at the aim of posting it on the website of the Central Electoral Commission with search opportunity. NKR voters register is the permanent and integral part of the Central Electoral Commission website. In accordance with the requirements of Article 11 of the NKR Electoral Code the voter list was also posted with downloadable opportunity on the NKR Police website 40 days and 2 days before the NKR National Assembly elections. It should be noted that according to Article 12 of the NKR Electoral Code each person has the right to submit an application to the competent authority for eliminating inaccuracies in the voter lists, moreover, legislative opportunities were given to submit applications for eliminating inaccuracies even not related to the individual of the applicant. At the result of the mentioned legal regulations the voter lists were subject to full control by all the entities participating on the electoral process and the society (except for the citizens of other countries).
5) The nomination of candidates, registration Seven political parties were nominated for the May 3, 2015 National Assembly elections on the proportional system. 50 candidates were nominated on the majoritarian system in 11 constituencies of the Republic. Four out of the mentioned candidates took back their documents before the beginning of the established deadline for the registration of the candidates. The registration of the candidates was performed within the established term. Seven political parties with 164 members nominated for the elections on the proportional system were registered. In 11 constituencies of the Republic 46 candidates were registered on the majoritarian system four of which submitted applications of withdrawal before the voting day in the established term and 42 candidates took part in the voting. 27 out of the mentioned candidates (64 percent) were non partisan, 21 (50 percent) were nominated in the procedure of self- nomination, 5 (12 percent) were female. An alternative candidate participated in the voting in all the constituencies; respectively, in two constituencies in two, four and five candidates, in four constituencies in three candidates and in one constituency eight candidates.
6) pre-election campaign, campaign financing According to Article 18 of the NKR Electoral Code the pre-election campaign period starts the last day of the time period defined by this Code for registration of candidates and electoral lists of parties and expires one day prior to the voting day. According to the schedule the period of the pre-election campaign was set from March 30 to May 1 till 24.00. The following were published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission in the established terms;
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- the list of the free halls and other buildings provided for the pre-election campaign events ( the total number was 240 in all the regions and in the city of Stepanakert) -the list of free places allocated for posting campaign posters - the price for a minute of paid airtime provided by Artsakh Public TV By N 73-P decision of March 30, 2015 of the Central Electoral Commission the procedure and schedule of free and paid airtime on public television and public radio to be provided to the parties participating in the elections by the proportional system was established. The preparation work for the organization of all the events defined by the Electoral Code for the pre-election campaign were performed before the pre-election campaign launched, which ensured equal conditions and opportunities for all the candidates since the very first day the pre- election campaign. The pre-election campaign was active and competitive. No restriction of pre-election meetings, freedom of expression and movement was protocolled. The Central Electoral Commission summed up the oversight results performed by the NKR Public Services and Economic Competition Regulatory Commission on the provision of the defined procedure for the pre-election campaign by TV and radio and protocolled that during May 3, 2015 National Assembly elections of the NKR no violations of defining the paid airtime tariff provided to the political parties participating in the elections on the proportional electoral system and the legislative requirements of immutability, as well as, non-discriminatory allocation of airtime was fixed. There were some time deviations, which, however, did not affect the overall quality of TV and radio campaigning. The control over the pre-election campaign financing for the NKR National Assembly elections was performed by Control and Audit Service of the NKR Central Electoral Commission which was formed by N 61-P decision of February 13, 2015 of the Central Electoral Commission. Seven political parties registered for the National Assembly elections on the proportional system opened pre-election funds in the prescribed procedure. 37 out of the 46 registered candidates participating in the elections on the majoritarian system opened pre-election funds. The Control and Audit Service of the NKR Central Electoral Commission, as requires Part 1 of Article 27 of the NKR Electoral Code, on the 10th day after the beginning of the pre-election campaign, as well as, no later than 3 days prior to the term of summing up the results of the voting prescribed by the Electoral Code, received the declarations of the candidates and political parties about the payments made in their pre-election funds and their usage, as well as, the documents confirming the costs fixed in the declarations. At the same time, Control and Audit Service once every three working days, received references on the contributions to the pre-election funds of the candidates and political parties and on the costs made from the funds from those banks where pre-election funds were opened. Studying the declarations on the contributions made in the pre-election funds and their usage and documents attached to the declarations, comparing their data to the information received from the banks, Control and Audit Service compiled a brief reference and submitted to the discussion of the Central Electoral Commission within three days after receiving the declarations.The reference was posted on the Central Electoral Commission website. 8
These functions of control were performed in a public and transparent manner. The fact that proper and productive control was performed towards the pre-election financing of the May 3, 2015 National Assembly elections, and that the procedure was performed in a public and transparent manner was testified by the circumstance that at the pre-election campaign phase the Central Electoral Commission received no complaint on the violation of the prescribed procedure of the pre-election campaign financing. The violations fixed during the pre-election campaigning concerned to the placing of the posters on the prohibited areas, which did not affect on the results of the voting. The submitted applications on the mentioned cases, as well as, programs and information submitted via mass media were the subject matter of study and discussion of the Central and Territorial Electoral Commissions. In this connection decisions were adopted, by which the authorized entities were obliged to eliminate irregularities and imperfections, which were performed by the respective entities.
7) Voting At the aim of conducting May 3, 2015 NKR National Assembly elections, 279 polling stations were formed, one out of which in the city of Yerevan and one in the penitentiary of Shoushi. On the voting day, at 7.00 the sessions of the precinct electoral commissions were held in the polling stations and at 8.00 the polling stations opened, the voting started. The polling center formed in the penitentiary opened at 9.00 a.m. 2497 citizens were appointed in the composition of the precinct electoral commissions in the prescribed procedure. All of them were present 279 polling stations. Moreover, 268 commissions (96%) consisted of 9 members, 8 commissions of 8 members and 3 of seven members. According to Article 42 of the NKR Electoral Code, members of the precinct electoral commissions are appointed by the members of the relevant territorial electoral commissions, based on the principle of 'one member of territorial electoral commission per one member of the precinct electoral commission' out of the citizens who have passed professional training courses and received qualification certificates. Most part of the precinct electoral commissioners -1511 citizens (60,5%) were female,1695 (67,9%) were non partisan, 393 (15,7%) were members of "Free Motherland" party, 282(11,3%) were members of "Artsakh Democratic Party" 118 (4,7%) were members of "Armenian Revolutionary Federation" party and 9 (0,4%) were members of Nagorno-Karabakh Communist Party. At 9.00 the Central Electoral Commission published information on the process of the voting, and from 12.00 till 21.00, every three hours, according to the constituencies published information on the number of the voters participated in the voting till the previous hour. After publishing the information on the number of the voters participated in the voting they were posted on the website of the commission according to the polling stations. The voting took place in a calm and peaceful atmosphere.
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In general, 2329 proxies followed the whole process of the voting, including, 1481 proxies of the parties participating in the elections on the proportional system (" Free Motherland" party- 541, "National Renaissance" party 117, Artsakh Democratic Party 288, Nagorno-Karabakh Communist Party-59, "Peace and Development" party 33,"Armenian Revolutionary Federation" party 326, "Movement-88" party 117) and 848 proxies of candidates participating in the elections on the majoritarian system. No complaints were received on the obstruction of the performance of the rights or restriction of powers of the proxies in the Central and Territorial Electoral Commissions. The Territorial Electoral Commission didn't receive any complaints on the prohibition of making records in the register books of the precinct electoral commission by the proxies either. The precinct electoral commissions worked very hard, sometimes, because of the activeness of the voters there were caused queues, however, no case was fixed, due to which the performance of the suffrage of the voters were hindered or any voter deprived of his suffrage.
8) Summary of the voting results On the voting day, at 20.00 all the polling stations closed and the precinct electoral commissions started the session of summary of the voting results by the procedure prescribed by the Electoral Code. The precinct electoral commissions, by the procedure prescribed by the Electoral Code, within ten hours after the voting, finished the summary of the voting results either on the proportional system or the majoritarian system. It should be noted that, simultaneously, at the polling stations two voting results were summarized in the term prescribed by the Electoral Code provided for the summarization of one voting results, because of which the precinct electoral commissions worked hard. The Central Electoral Commission no later than on the following day of the voting, from 00.00, performed the tabulation of voting results according to the polling stations. The whole process of summing up the results of the elections were performed open and transparent. At the polling stations proxies, observers and mass media representatives had the opportunity to videotape the whole process of the summary of the voting results. There was no complaint or even a call, that by the requirement of the persons having right to be present at the polling station they did not receive an extract from the protocol of the voting results at the polling station certified by the seals of the Chairman or Secretary of the Commission. There was no case that the data of the protocol on the voting results of the polling station differed from those published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission.
9) The recount of the voting results 47 Article of the NKR Electoral Code regulates in detail the institute of the recount of the voting results. A candidate, a proxy have the right to submit an appeal of a recount if they were present during the summing up of the voting results at the polling station, as weel as, a member of the precinct electoral commission in the case of making a record at the polling station in the protocol 10 on the voting results on having a special opinion on the procedure of summing up of the voting results. According to the legal norm, the definition of such a subjective composition does not bear a formal nature.Those participants of the electoral process who have direct personal interests, participated, were present at the summing up of the voting results at the polling station, protocolled the violations which had been done on their opinion, noticed a mistaken calculation and so on, may use the right of submitting a request of a recount. That is, the person who submits an appeal, has already a full understanding on the counting performed at the polling station, and by means of a recount, in fact, aims to protocol those violations. The Law has established a deadline for submitting application for recounting the voting results at the polling station - till 18.00 on the following day of the voting. Elementary, simplest requirements have been established for an application of a recounting. The Law has established a deadline for submitting an application for recounting of the voting results at the polling station - till 18.00 on the following day of the voting. Elementary, simplest requirements have been established for an application of a recounting. No appeal for a recounting of the voting results was submitted under the proportional system at the polling stations. An appeal for a recounting was submitted in Constituency 2 by the proxies of two candidates to the deputy and a recounting was performed in 10 polling stations. The recounting process at the Territorial Electoral Commission of Stepanakert was performed open, transparent, all those who wanted to be present at the recounting process were given an opportunity to be present and freely get acquainted and follow the process. By the way, at the result of a recounting in three polling stations the data of the protocols of the voting results bore minor changes, which did not result any change on the final results of the elections. An appeal for a recounting addressed to the Territorial Electoral Commission of Kashatagh was rejected as the appeal was not submitted according to the content.
10) The invalidation of the voting results at the polling station According to Paragraph 4 of Part 8 of Article 45 of the NKR Electoral Code, an application for declaring as invalid the voting results in an electoral precinct may be filed with the respective territorial electoral commission only on the day following the voting day, by 18.00 hours. According to Part 9 of the same article,if, as a result of reviewing the appeal or application, the territorial electoral commission concludes that, during the voting, there have been such violations of the requirements of this Code, which could have materially affected the voting results, and if it is impossible to determine the real results of the voting, and the violation is not expressed in the inaccuracies, then the territorial electoral commission shall declare as invalid the voting results in the electoral precinct concerned. In such case, the materials shall be sent to the prosecution office. As the result of May 3, 2015 elections no application was submitted to the territorial electoral commissions on recognition the voting results at the polling station as invalid.
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11) Records concerning violations in the register books of the precinct electoral commissions. According to Part 5 of Article 65 of the NKR Electoral Code, if a commission member or proxy considers that the voting procedure prescribed by this Code has been violated during the voting, he may demand his finding to be recorded in the book of records. According to the data concerning the records made in the register books of the precinct electoral commissions received from the territorial electoral commissions, at the held elections, in the register books of some precinct electoral commissions formed in the respective constituencies (the regions of Martakert, Kashatagh) on the voting day, on May 3, the protocolled violations were eliminated operatively and the findings concerning them did not affect on the voting results any way. As of May 8, 2015 all the six coordinating territorial electoral commissions made respective decisions, according to which, during the preparation and voting of the NKR National Assembly elections under the majoritarian system held on May 3, 2015 no violations of the NKR Electoral Code occured, which could affect on the voting results.
12) Discussion of complaints During the organization and conduct of May 3, 2015 elections, seven complaints were submitted to the NKR Central Electoral Commissions, which according to the requirements of the NKR Electoral Code were discussed and received solutions. According to Part 6 of Article 46 of the NKR Electoral Code, electoral commissions shall take appropriate measures in relation to matters requiring urgent solution. The information regarding the irregularities found in different websites and mass media were operatively adjusted with the respective territorial electoral commissions and other state bodies and in the case of confirmation of the information relevant instructions and assignments were given. During the National Assembly elections of May 3, 2015 at the aim of rising the productivity of prosecutorial supervision over the discussion of the programs concerning the irregularities and coordinating the activity, by N 39 decree of 30. 03. 2015 of NKR Prosecutor General a temporary working group had been created, by which, the information on the discussion and solution of the programs concerning the violation of the suffrage, provided by the Prosecutor's Office is presented below; "1. On April 3, 2015 at 10.30 a.m. Eduard Aghabekyan, a representative of "Movement-88" Party called the hotline of the NKR General Prosecutor's Office and said, that he had called "Stepanakert Service" CJSC with a request to post advertising posters for pre-election campaign on the route busses of Stepanakert city, but he received a rejection from the founder of the latter's - Director of Artsakh Investment Fund A. Mirzoyan. It was clarified to E. Aghabekyan that the outer free parts of the car bodies belonging to "Stepanakert Service" CJSC did not belong to the areas established by N 279 P decision of 03.03.2015 of Stepanakert Mayor on "Allocating free places for posting campaign posters in the community district ".
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2. On April 14, 2015 a representative of "National Renaissance" Party Tigran Khachatryan stated that, the head of Kashatagh regional administration S. Khachatryan by means of the head of Ghazarapat community of the mentioned region Artush H. Stepanyan urged an inhabitant of the same community Souren A. Zakaryan, that he might vote any political power except for "National Renaissance" Party. During the inspections S. A. Zakaryan confirmed, and the head of Ghazarapat community A. H. Stepanyan denied the aforementioned and gave explanation, that the head of Kashatagh regional administration S. Khachatryan had not given him such an assignment, he had never performed such a campaign, as the Law prohibits a head of a community to get involved in such a campaign. 3. On April 18, 2015 the head of "National Renaissance" Party Hayk Khanoumyan called the hotline of the NKR Prosecutor General's Office and stated, that the NKR Traffic Police hindered to perform the pre-election campaign by means of transporting the vechiles provided for that purpose to the penalty area of the Traffic Police Department of the NKR Police. On the same day, some time later, the head of "National Renaissance" Party Hayk Khanoumyan called the hotline of the NKR Prosecutor General's Office and stated, that their problems related to the NKR Traffic Police were soluted and he wanted to cancel his former announcement concerning to that matter. 4. On April 20, 2015 on «http:\\www.aravot.am» website an article was published entitled - "Pre-election gifts in Artsakh"; inhabitants are given refrigerators". On the mentioned article "Artsakh "National Renaissance" Party called and stated that the authorities of Artsakh exerted pressure to them in the election campaign, as well as, "Free Motherland" Party bought the votes. During the inspection of the report Hayk Khanoumyan stated, that he could not give concrete names on the mentioned matter in his announcement, promising to study the article once more and in case of necessity, officially reject that. Any further information concerning to the mentioned facts by the head of "National Renaissance" Party Hayk Khanoumyan was not submitted. 5. On 27. 04. 2015 an application was received to the NKR Prosecutor General's Office by the authorized representative of " Peace and Development" Party Varuzhan Gabrielyan which stated that a material entitled "DJ Mutilovshchik" had been published, which, in the opinion of the applicant contained libellous information. Responsible for www.karabakh-life.am site Bella Lalayan explained that there was no libel in the materials, besides, she was not obliged to disclose the source of the information. On the facts containing insults and lack of libelous information in the article regarding the party the applicant was explained that he had the right to appeal to the NKR First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction on the basis provided by Article 19 and 10871 of the NKR Civil Code for the protection of his honor and dignity. As the result of the discussions regarding the violations of the suffrage no grounds for exposure to prosecution were revealed.
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13) The application submitted to the Court and their examination No applications on the violation of the suffrage during the organization and conduct of May 3, 2015 National Assembly elections were submitted to the Court. 14) Appealing the voting results According to Article 114 of the NKR Constitution the disputes related to the decisions adopted by the results of the elections of the deputies solves the Supreme Court. The NKR Supreme Court did not discuss disputes related to May 3, 2015 elections.
The recommendations of the Central Electoral Commission Substantial progress of the NKR new Electoral Code was protocoled in the field of legal regulation. However, the practical implementation of the Electoral Code showed, that separate norms and institutes regulating the electoral process need to be improved. Taking into account our observations, as well as, after examining the recommendations submitted in the conclusions by the observation missions, at the aim of improving the NKR electoral legislation, we shall later present a draft of appropriate legislative amendments.
SECRETARY OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION R. NAZARYAN
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