Politics of Nagorno-Karabakh takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nagorno-Karabakh is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh is the head of government, and of a multi-party system; as of 2009, American-based non-governmental organisation Freedom House ranks the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic above both Armenia and Azerbaijan in terms of political and civil rights. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the Government and the National Assembly. The republic is de facto independent and de jure a part of Azerbaijan. None of the elections in Nagorno-Karabakh are recognised by international bodies such as the OSCE Minsk Group, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as numerous individual countries, such as Azerbaijan and Turkey, who also condemned and called them a source of increased tensions.
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Executive branch
The President is directly elected for a five-year term, by the people. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and approved by the National Assembly.
Legislative branch
The National Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov) has 33 members elected for a five-year term, 16 in single seat constituencies and the remaining 17 by proportional representation. Nagorno-Karabakh has a multi-party system, with numerous political parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.