Politics - 1993 January 23 (Saturday)

By 10:00 a.m., voter turnout in the snap parliamentary elections was 9.92%, the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan reported.

The "Musavat" Party has reported violations in the first hours of the extraordinary Parliamentary elections. According to the press release, they are caused mainly by pressures of observers and the so-called "carousels".

Voting in the early elections to the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan began at 8:00. Voting is taking place at 6,478 polling stations throughout Azerbaijan, including the lands liberated from occupation. 990 candidates are competing for 125 seats in the unicameral parliament.

Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.