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NKR VOTES 2010: CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENT SEATS UNITED IN UNCOMPROMISING STANCE ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent
20.05.10
This coming weekend Karabakh will see its fifth parliamentary elections
since gaining de-facto independence from Azerbaijan. Judging by
the opinion polls, nothing will change in Karabakh's foreign policy
positions after the May 23 vote.
Experts say that in conditions of the unresolved conflict with
Azerbaijan and a 'besieged fortress' status Karabakh Armenians have
formed a single uncompromising position on the Karabakh settlement
and decided not to wage tough election campaigns on this aspect. As
a result, the elections are of purely 'personified' nature and their
results are of interest to their immediate participants. For ordinary
people in Karabakh nothing will change after the elections as only
a slight realignment of political forces is likely to take place.
The Sociometer center conducted a survey in Nagorno-Karabakh in April
to try to gauge voter preferences ahead of the legislative polls.
According to the survey, the Free Homeland party is likely to get 13
seats in the 33-seat parliament of Karabakh, the Democratic Party of
Artsakh -
11 seats, ARF Dashnaktsutyun - five seats, the remaining four seats
are likely to be won by candidates with no party affiliations.
Since these same parties now already hold parliamentary seats, it can
be concluded that nothing will change in the shape of Karabakh politics
- probably there will be fewer Democrats, a few more supporters of
Free Homeland and Dashnaks. All of them supported the candidature of
the incumbent president Bako Sahakyan during the 2007 presidential
election campaign.
This suggests that the positions of Karabakh after the elections will
not change, especially regarding the Karabakh settlement. As many
as 85 percent of the Sociometer survey respondents said they did not
intend to make concessions to Azerbaijan, and only 2.9 percent said
they would agree to cede some territories in exchange for a status. As
many as 93 percent of the respondents said they categorically opposed
the return of Azerbaijanis. Moreover, more than half of the people of
Karabakh trust a solution to the Karabakh problem to Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan. (6.8 percent
trust Armenia's and Karabakh's former president Robert Kocharyan on
that account.)
A total of 82 candidates on the lists of four parties, including Free
Homeland, the Democratic Party of Artsakh, the Communist Party and
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, are vying for 17 parliamentary
seats according to the proportional system of representations. Another
44 candidates seek 16 MP positions in single-mandate constituencies.
The Free Homeland party ticket led by Karabakh Prime Minister Ara
Harutyunyan includes 35 candidates. The list of the Democratic Party
of Artsakh led by current Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulyan includes
32 candidates. The two other parties, ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the
Communist Party have submitted slates consisting of ten and five
candidates, respectively.
A total of 273 district election commissions have been formed, of
which one in Yerevan, at the permanent mission of Nagorno-Karabakh
in Armenia. The list of voters in Karabakh includes 94,900 eligible
voters, or about 66 percent of the official total population of the
republic. The election will be considered valid with a secured 25
percent turnout. The hurdle for political parties to get into the
legislative body has been lowered from 10 to 6 percent.
Meanwhile, international observers are arriving in Karabakh. The former
special envoy of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) to the Caucasus, representative of the Paris office of
the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation Maurice Bonneau arrived
on Wednesday. Chairman of the NKR Central Election Commission of
NKR Sergey Nasibyan reported that between 60 and 70 international
observers are expected to arrive, in particular from Russia, the
United States, Germany, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, France, Ireland,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina. Journalists from
17 international and 15 local media have already been accredited,
but it is expected that the number of journalists who will arrive to
cover the Karabakh elections will reach 50-60. A delegation from the
Central Election Commission of Armenia is also due to be in Karabakh.
During his visit to Yerevan last week the Turkish president of the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Mevlut Cavusoglu said
that in response to the application by the Speaker of the Karabakh
Parliament, the PACE Bureau decided not to send observers to the
parliamentary elections in Karabakh.
Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent
20.05.10
This coming weekend Karabakh will see its fifth parliamentary elections
since gaining de-facto independence from Azerbaijan. Judging by
the opinion polls, nothing will change in Karabakh's foreign policy
positions after the May 23 vote.
Experts say that in conditions of the unresolved conflict with
Azerbaijan and a 'besieged fortress' status Karabakh Armenians have
formed a single uncompromising position on the Karabakh settlement
and decided not to wage tough election campaigns on this aspect. As
a result, the elections are of purely 'personified' nature and their
results are of interest to their immediate participants. For ordinary
people in Karabakh nothing will change after the elections as only
a slight realignment of political forces is likely to take place.
The Sociometer center conducted a survey in Nagorno-Karabakh in April
to try to gauge voter preferences ahead of the legislative polls.
According to the survey, the Free Homeland party is likely to get 13
seats in the 33-seat parliament of Karabakh, the Democratic Party of
Artsakh -
11 seats, ARF Dashnaktsutyun - five seats, the remaining four seats
are likely to be won by candidates with no party affiliations.
Since these same parties now already hold parliamentary seats, it can
be concluded that nothing will change in the shape of Karabakh politics
- probably there will be fewer Democrats, a few more supporters of
Free Homeland and Dashnaks. All of them supported the candidature of
the incumbent president Bako Sahakyan during the 2007 presidential
election campaign.
This suggests that the positions of Karabakh after the elections will
not change, especially regarding the Karabakh settlement. As many
as 85 percent of the Sociometer survey respondents said they did not
intend to make concessions to Azerbaijan, and only 2.9 percent said
they would agree to cede some territories in exchange for a status. As
many as 93 percent of the respondents said they categorically opposed
the return of Azerbaijanis. Moreover, more than half of the people of
Karabakh trust a solution to the Karabakh problem to Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan. (6.8 percent
trust Armenia's and Karabakh's former president Robert Kocharyan on
that account.)
A total of 82 candidates on the lists of four parties, including Free
Homeland, the Democratic Party of Artsakh, the Communist Party and
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, are vying for 17 parliamentary
seats according to the proportional system of representations. Another
44 candidates seek 16 MP positions in single-mandate constituencies.
The Free Homeland party ticket led by Karabakh Prime Minister Ara
Harutyunyan includes 35 candidates. The list of the Democratic Party
of Artsakh led by current Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulyan includes
32 candidates. The two other parties, ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the
Communist Party have submitted slates consisting of ten and five
candidates, respectively.
A total of 273 district election commissions have been formed, of
which one in Yerevan, at the permanent mission of Nagorno-Karabakh
in Armenia. The list of voters in Karabakh includes 94,900 eligible
voters, or about 66 percent of the official total population of the
republic. The election will be considered valid with a secured 25
percent turnout. The hurdle for political parties to get into the
legislative body has been lowered from 10 to 6 percent.
Meanwhile, international observers are arriving in Karabakh. The former
special envoy of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) to the Caucasus, representative of the Paris office of
the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation Maurice Bonneau arrived
on Wednesday. Chairman of the NKR Central Election Commission of
NKR Sergey Nasibyan reported that between 60 and 70 international
observers are expected to arrive, in particular from Russia, the
United States, Germany, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, France, Ireland,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina. Journalists from
17 international and 15 local media have already been accredited,
but it is expected that the number of journalists who will arrive to
cover the Karabakh elections will reach 50-60. A delegation from the
Central Election Commission of Armenia is also due to be in Karabakh.
During his visit to Yerevan last week the Turkish president of the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Mevlut Cavusoglu said
that in response to the application by the Speaker of the Karabakh
Parliament, the PACE Bureau decided not to send observers to the
parliamentary elections in Karabakh.