National Assembly (Artsakh)
The National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh was the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Artsakh and has been in exile in Armenia since late 2023.
Status
Following the Azerbaijani offensive on 19 September 2023, Artsakh president Samvel Shahramanyan issued a decree to dissolve the Republic by 1 January 2024. However, this decision was subsequently declared not valid in December 2023 by Shahramanyan. The Assembly kept functioning in exile from Yerevan. In April 2025 it adopted a constitutional amendment to preserve the office of the president, by prolonging Shahramanyan's term. The option to hold new elections was dismissed, due to depopulation of the region and the collapsed institutions.Assembly
Plans were in place to move the National Assembly from Stepanakert to Shusha on 9 May 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of the capture of Shusha, but the city came under the control of Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.In early March 2024, Azerbaijani authorities demolished the building of the National Assembly of Artsakh.
Electoral system
The constitution of Artsakh, amended in 2017, stated that all members to National Assembly shall be elected for a five-year term through a proportional electoral system. The National Assembly had to be composed of no less than 27 and no more than 33 MPs. The number of the MPs had to be defined by the Electoral Code.Prior to the passing of the 2017 constitutional referendum, the National Assembly had 33 members, 22 of whom were elected using party-list proportional representation, and the rest elected in single seat constituencies using first-past-the-post voting.
Committees
The National Assembly had 7 standing committees:- Standing Committee on Defense, Security and Law Enforcement
- Standing Committee on Foreign Relations
- Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs
- Standing Committee on Social Affairs and Health
- Standing Committee on Production and Manufacturing Infrastructure
- Standing Committee on Budget, Financial and Economic Management
- Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports,