Two pro-Pashinyan candidates were the first-round leaders for de facto president. Observers noted widespread violations, however, and many argued the vote shouldn’t even have happened given the coronavirus outbreak.
The parliament pushed through the law in an emergency session, after opposition members boycotted in protest of the government's irregular efforts to get it passed.
There are worries that election observers from Armenia – which has been relatively hard-hit by the COVID-19 outbreak – could bring the virus into Karabakh.
The church’s obstinacy in not giving up the practice of sharing spoons for communion – a clear public health threat – is causing an unprecedented debate over the church’s role in society.
The vote went ahead in spite of the global coronavirus outbreak; although Abkhazia hasn’t recorded any cases, election officials took pains that the disease couldn’t be spread by voting.
Afgan Mukhtarli was freed after nearly three years in prison. His rendering from Tbilisi drew attention to the clout that the authoritarian Azerbaijani government wielded in neighboring Georgia.
The hidden impact of coronavirus, a new secret police chief, and reading the government’s imagined data to understand its priorities and mindset. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.
Tinkering with the legislature, megaprojects for the dauphin, and talking about coronavirus without mentioning coronavirus: This and more in our weekly briefing.