Protestors gathered at various points in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday (16 April) to protest against the nomination of Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister of Armenia.

How, and for what purpose, will the newly empowered leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan use their now nearly absolute powers? And more specifically how will they do so in the context of the Karabakh conflict and conflict resolution process, asks Dennis Sammut in this commentary.

Several thousand people demonstrated in Baku's Yasamal district on Saturday, 14 April, calling for the cancellation of the results of presidential elections held on 11 April, citing massive electoral fraud.

The demonstrations organised by a movement calling itself "Reject Serzh" are spearheaded by the opposition Yelk Party and are led by its leader parliamentarian Nikol Pashinyan.

"The EU looks forward to continuing dialogue and working closely with Azerbaijan, including with a view to addressing fundamental issues of democracy and human rights during the renewed term in office of the President, for the benefit of the people of Azerbaijan and EU-Azerbaijan relations."

Armenian media, citing military sources, say that Azerbaijani military opened gunfire at a civilian cargo vehicle in the town of Baghanis in Armenia's Tavush province late in the evening on Thursday (12 April). Azerbaijan has denied the incident

In their preliminary report the mission made up of representatives of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and of ODIHR, concluded that the election lacked genuine competition.

The Central Elections Commission said that President Aliyev has won 86.09 percent of the vote. According to the CEC voter turnout was 74.51 percent.

There are eight candidates, including the incumbent, President Ilham Aliyev. Under constitutional changes approved last year the term of office for the newly elected president will be seven years. The main opposition parties have called for a boycott of the elections.

Armenian media reports that a soldier serving with the Armenian Army, 20 year old conscript Narek Harutyunyan, was killed on Monday, 9 April at about 14:20 in the southern section of the line of contact in the Karabakh conflict zone.