People of Artsakh have said their decisive "yes" to new Constitution,  Frank Engel says  

ArmInfo.People of Artsakh have said their decisive "yes" to the new Constitution, Frank Engel, the head of the Friendship Group with Artsakh in the European  Parliament, said at a press conference in Stepanakert on Feb 21.   

Engel noted that the preliminary results of the referendum speak for  themselves. He said that their delegation visited Askeran and  Stepanakert and saw that the referendum was held without any  violations and that it chiefly met the standards of Western Europe.  He pointed at the impressive turnout - about 76%, which is an  essential result for the South Caucasus. Engel thinks the fact that  the referendum is not internationally recognized does not prevent the  people of Artsakh from living, prospering and building their future  on democratic values. The European parliamentarian does not think  that the referendum is directly related to the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict. When commenting on the idea that all the international  observers will be "blacklisted" by Azerbaijan, Engel said that he has  no intention to spend his next vacation in Azerbaijan. He added that  he has repeatedly been intimidated with that "black list", however,  he is not concerned about it. Engel hopes to visit Karabakh again. 

For her part, Eleni Theocharous, Co-Chair of the EU-Armenia  Cooperation Council, expressed her content with the referendum  results. The referendum was conducted in line with international  standards, she said, expressing hope that this referendum will mark  the beginning of a new path for Artsakh's development.    

According to the preliminary data of the NKR Central Electoral  Commission, as many as 69,540 (87.6%) citizens voted for the adoption  of the new Constitution in Karabakh. 7,686 citizens (9.7%) voted  against the new Constitution.  2,202 ballots (2.8%) were declared  invalid. The turnout made up 79,425 out of the 103,793 NKR citizens  having the right to vote. As many as 104 foreign observers from 30  countries, as well as 103 local observers monitored the referendum.  Over 80 journalists covered the referendum.  

The concept of the NKR constitutional reforms was presented in August  2016. Following public and political debates, the NKR Parliament took  a decision on Jan 17, 2017 to hold a referendum. The decision was  taken with 20 pros, 7 cons and 1 abstention. Under the current  constitution, the NKR is a semi- presidential republic.   Dashnaktsutyun and Revival factions voted against the document,  Movement-88 faction abstained from voting, while Free Motherland and  Democracy factions voted for the document. Under the current  constitution, the NKR is a semi-presidential republic.  The new draft  constitution implies transition to a presidential form of government  with wide powers of the Parliament.