PanARMENIAN.Net - International observers who arrived in the Nagorno Karabakh to monitor the course of the republic's parliamentary election welcomed the latter's compliance with the international democratic norms.

The Sunday, May 3 elections saw a 70,6% voter turnout. Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan’s Free Motherland Party got almost half of the mandates in the 33-seat National Assembly, according to preliminary results.

Before the elections, the OSCE Minsk Group, which is the main international format advancing a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, issued a statement in which it, in fact, recognized the right of the Karabakh people to holding elections. “In the context of a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, we recognize the role of the people of Nagorno Karabakh in deciding their future. However, none of our three countries, nor any other country, recognizes Nagorno Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state. Accordingly, we do not accept the results of these “elections” as affecting the legal status of Nagorno Karabakh, and stress that they in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno Karabakh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France said in a statement released from Paris on April 30.

Representatives of the European Union and the United States issued similar statements. The European External Action Service said it would not recognize the constitutional and legal format of the elections.

“The EU’s and other international organizations’ non-recognition of the elections in Karabakh did not prevent me from acting as an observer here. The latter fact, at least, proves that I recognize the elections,” MEP Frank Engel told journalists.

“I believe the statements of the EU and U.S. to only be one side of the situation. The other side is that the world powers are responding the Karabakh people’s struggle for freedom,” the Director of European Friends of Armenia Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa said.

He cited Karabakh as an example of the development of democratic processes and traditions. “Parliamentary elections in Karabakh were held in the best traditions of a democratic state,” French MP François Rochebloine said. As the republic’s president Bako Sahakyan stated at a final briefing “the non-recognition should not prevent Karabakh from striving for further development and democracy-building.”