NKR Votes: Incumbent Sahakyan re-elected for second term, observers give high marks to process

Incumbent President Bako Sahakyan has retained his post winning Thursday's election in Nagorno Karabakh by taking 47,085 votes — 66.7.

Runner up General Vitali Balasanyan got 32.5 percent of votes (22, 966). Arkadi Soghomyan received 0.8 percent or 594 votes.

Experts point out a new peculiarity in Karabakh elections – a signifcantly decreased gap between the winner's votes and those of his main opponent. In 2007, Bako Sahakyan won by 85.12 percent, while his main opponent Masis Mailyan, by official data, scored only 12.53 percent. So, 80-90-percent victories were considered to be the norm in Karabakh, however, things have changed and "the bar is lower" now and Sahakyan has cleared it with 67 percent, with his opponent practically taking one third of the votes.  Read more... (481 words)

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