Candidates representing the Democratic Artsakh Union (ZhAM) that supports Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, were elected to head local government bodies in at least 140 of the unrecognized enclave's 223 towns and villages in the 5 September elections, ZhAM Chairman Ashot Gulian told RFE/RL's on 6 September. ZhAM candidate Hamik Avanesian was elected mayor of Stepanakert with some 53 percent of the vote; his closest rival, Maksim Mirzoyan of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun (HHD), polled 20 percent. The HHD won control of some 20 communities, mostly in the southern district of Hadrut, and endorsed independent candidates elected in a dozen other villages. Voter turnout was estimated at 60 percent. (RFE/RL)