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Caucasus Reporting Service
Karabakh Election Battle
Unexpectedly strong contest in mountainous territory too close to call.
By Ashot Beglarian in Stepanakert (CRS No. 244, 28-Jul-04)
Nagorny Karabakh is experiencing an unusually lively election campaign for
the mayor of its main city, Stepanakert.
Five candidates are fighting for the post, employing Karabakhi television
and a new independent newspaper to advertise themselves to voters, in the
most important contest in the region's August 8 municipal elections.
As always, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry in Baku has issued a protest at
the conduct of elections in the republic, which is internationally
recognised as being part of Azerbaijan. And, as always, the Armenian
authorities in Karabakh have rejected the accusations.
In a statement the Nagorny Karabakh foreign ministry declared, "We proceed
from the understanding that only legitimately elected authorities possess
the necessary powers and bear responsibility for the fate of the people who
live on the territory entrusted to them."
The election marks something new for Karabakh because three of the
candidates are in different ways connected to officialdom and there is no
clear favourite in a territory where one contestant usually wins a
resounding victory.
Originally, there were ten candidates, but the field has now narrowed to
five, after two were denied registration and three pulled out. Most
observers are agreed that the ballot comes down to a fight between two men,
Pavel Najarian, a former deputy mayor of Stepanakert, and Eduard Agabekian,
chairman of the committee on social issues in the Karabakh parliament.
Najarian was one of the participants in the 1988 movement for secession from
Azerbaijan and has a reputation of being an experienced business
professional, having managed the local buildings material plant, one of the
most successful factories in Karabakh in recent times.
He is also the favourite because he is generally believed to have the
support of the local authorities.
Agabekian is a popular politician with the reputation of being a brave
member of parliament who speaks out for the democratisation of society. He
is one of the founders of a recently-formed political organisation,
Movement-88, whose aim is to "revive the spirit and national consciousness
of 1988, the beginning of the Karabakh movement for self-determination".
The current mayor Amik Avanesian is also running for re-election, although
he lacks the public and political support he once had and few rate his
chances. Most residents of the city say in his time in office he has done
almost nothing to deal with their problems.
Both leading candidates have been busy trying to win hearts and minds.
Najarian has made a point of saying that the spiritual as well as the
physical welfare of Stepanakert is important.
"Stepanakert needs a church, which will allow people to have firm faith in
the nation and themselves," he said. "I am deeply worried about the sickness
that has stricken our society - people's indifference to what is around
them. To cure that sickness people have to have a healthy spiritual and
social way of life."
Agabekian says he will fight for "the supremacy of the law" in Stepanakert,
before which "everyone ought to be equal, irrespective of their social
position, merits and party allegiance", suggesting he will, if elected, be
an independent mayor.
The responsibilities of the mayor and of the government are blurred and one
of the other candidates, Iosif Adamian, a well-known local businessman and
wine-maker, argues that the mayor's office needs to be restructured and made
more autonomous.
"The office of mayor is not a gift and not a weapon for different groups,
but an organ which is the guarantee of social justice and citizens' rights,"
he said.
David Karabekian, a university lecturer, noted that "many legal questions
connected with the activity of the local authorities and their relations
with the central republican authorities have not been worked out. The legal
vacuum not only makes possible pressure from above but various kinds of
bureaucratic arbitrary rule with all its accompanying side-effects:
corruption, protectionism and so on."
The new mayor will have to deal with a wide range of problems to do with
housing, jobs and utilities. Avanesian is promising, if re-elected, to build
700 new houses.
Despite the lively campaign and assurances from the central electoral
commission, many Stepanakert voters are wary of the candidates and their
promises and believe the outcome is all but predetermined.
"I believe that the candidate who has the current authorities behind him
will win," said local resident, Karen Arakelian, formerly a refugee from
Baku, reflecting the views of many. " [Although] I don't think there will be
any crude breaking of the electoral rules."
Ashot Beglarian is a freelance journalist based in Nagorny Karabakh.
Karabakh Election Battle
Unexpectedly strong contest in mountainous territory too close to call.
By Ashot Beglarian in Stepanakert (CRS No. 244, 28-Jul-04)
Nagorny Karabakh is experiencing an unusually lively election campaign for
the mayor of its main city, Stepanakert.
Five candidates are fighting for the post, employing Karabakhi television
and a new independent newspaper to advertise themselves to voters, in the
most important contest in the region's August 8 municipal elections.
As always, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry in Baku has issued a protest at
the conduct of elections in the republic, which is internationally
recognised as being part of Azerbaijan. And, as always, the Armenian
authorities in Karabakh have rejected the accusations.
In a statement the Nagorny Karabakh foreign ministry declared, "We proceed
from the understanding that only legitimately elected authorities possess
the necessary powers and bear responsibility for the fate of the people who
live on the territory entrusted to them."
The election marks something new for Karabakh because three of the
candidates are in different ways connected to officialdom and there is no
clear favourite in a territory where one contestant usually wins a
resounding victory.
Originally, there were ten candidates, but the field has now narrowed to
five, after two were denied registration and three pulled out. Most
observers are agreed that the ballot comes down to a fight between two men,
Pavel Najarian, a former deputy mayor of Stepanakert, and Eduard Agabekian,
chairman of the committee on social issues in the Karabakh parliament.
Najarian was one of the participants in the 1988 movement for secession from
Azerbaijan and has a reputation of being an experienced business
professional, having managed the local buildings material plant, one of the
most successful factories in Karabakh in recent times.
He is also the favourite because he is generally believed to have the
support of the local authorities.
Agabekian is a popular politician with the reputation of being a brave
member of parliament who speaks out for the democratisation of society. He
is one of the founders of a recently-formed political organisation,
Movement-88, whose aim is to "revive the spirit and national consciousness
of 1988, the beginning of the Karabakh movement for self-determination".
The current mayor Amik Avanesian is also running for re-election, although
he lacks the public and political support he once had and few rate his
chances. Most residents of the city say in his time in office he has done
almost nothing to deal with their problems.
Both leading candidates have been busy trying to win hearts and minds.
Najarian has made a point of saying that the spiritual as well as the
physical welfare of Stepanakert is important.
"Stepanakert needs a church, which will allow people to have firm faith in
the nation and themselves," he said. "I am deeply worried about the sickness
that has stricken our society - people's indifference to what is around
them. To cure that sickness people have to have a healthy spiritual and
social way of life."
Agabekian says he will fight for "the supremacy of the law" in Stepanakert,
before which "everyone ought to be equal, irrespective of their social
position, merits and party allegiance", suggesting he will, if elected, be
an independent mayor.
The responsibilities of the mayor and of the government are blurred and one
of the other candidates, Iosif Adamian, a well-known local businessman and
wine-maker, argues that the mayor's office needs to be restructured and made
more autonomous.
"The office of mayor is not a gift and not a weapon for different groups,
but an organ which is the guarantee of social justice and citizens' rights,"
he said.
David Karabekian, a university lecturer, noted that "many legal questions
connected with the activity of the local authorities and their relations
with the central republican authorities have not been worked out. The legal
vacuum not only makes possible pressure from above but various kinds of
bureaucratic arbitrary rule with all its accompanying side-effects:
corruption, protectionism and so on."
The new mayor will have to deal with a wide range of problems to do with
housing, jobs and utilities. Avanesian is promising, if re-elected, to build
700 new houses.
Despite the lively campaign and assurances from the central electoral
commission, many Stepanakert voters are wary of the candidates and their
promises and believe the outcome is all but predetermined.
"I believe that the candidate who has the current authorities behind him
will win," said local resident, Karen Arakelian, formerly a refugee from
Baku, reflecting the views of many. " [Although] I don't think there will be
any crude breaking of the electoral rules."
Ashot Beglarian is a freelance journalist based in Nagorny Karabakh.