KARABAKH APPROVES ITS FIRST EVER CONSTITUTION

 
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS: The overwhelming majority of voters in Nagorno-Karabakh who went to the polls on Sunday to cast ballots in the first-ever constitutional referendum, approved their first constitution.
According to the preliminary returns of the Sunday plebiscite, released on Monday, 98.6 percent of voters approved the constitution, which describes Karabakh as a sovereign state. The turnout was 87.2 percent. “According to preliminary results, the constitution is adopted and December 10 from now can be declared as a Constitution Day,” election commission chief Sergey Nasibian told journalists in Nagorno-Karabakh capital Stepanakert.
The vote was held on the 15th anniversary of a referendum in which Nagorno-Karabakh split from Azerbaijan in 1990. Nagorno-Karabakh’ s leader Arkady Ghukasian hailed the vote as a landmark move that would “determine the Nagorno-Karabakh’ s people destiny.”
At least one third of the region’s eligible voters were needed to make the vote valid, and a simple majority of those who cast ballots was necessary for the constitution’ s approval.
Azerbaijan and the international community do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh’ s independence. Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar Mamedyarov was quoted by Trend news agency as saying his country will never recognize the validity of the plebiscite.
The Council of Europe said also it will not recognize the outcome of the December 10 constitutional referendum. A statement issued by its secretary general, Terry Davis, said. ‘This Sunday’s vote organized by the ‘de facto’ authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot have any legal validity. It will not be recognized by the international community and is therefore of no consequence. ”