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THE COMPETITION OF THE CANDIDATES IS COMPETITION OF THEIR PROGRAMS
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=758:t he-competition-of-the-candidates-is-competition-of-their-programs&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Thursday, 12 July 2012 08:04
The pre-election campaign in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has long
crossed the "equator" and moved to its finish. Exactly ten days
are remained before the end of the pre-election campaign in support
of the candidates for the highest post in the state, after which,
on the eve of the voting process, the so-called "day of silence"
will be announced.
Surely, the concept of "silence" is quite relative here and reflects
only the purely legal requirement to cease public speeches of the
candidates and their supporting political parties and individuals.
There is no doubt that it is in the "day of silence" that voters will
determine their wishes and preferences in a relaxed atmosphere.
However, it is clear, since the elections of the President as such
can be considered the apotheosis of all the electoral processes and
the further development of the NKR and its future as a whole depend,
without any exaggeration, on their outcome. The presidential elections
as an event of political and national importance are the next step for
the understanding of the way passed and for the prioritization of the
development of our independent statehood and democratic institutions.
So, they are directly related to each of us, that's why we can be
sure that the Karabakh voters will display their usual activity and
high electoral culture.
We'd like to remind our readers that four presidential candidates were
at the start of the pre-election race - Member of the NKR National
Assembly Vitaly Balasanyan, NKR Acting President Bako Sahakyan,
Deputy Director for educational and scientific works of the Stepanakert
branch of the Yerevan State Agricultural University Arkady Soghomonyan
and Chairman of Civil Society NGO Valery Khachatryan. We'll not be
mistaken if we say that the intensity of the presidential candidates'
meetings with the voters serves a peculiar indicator allowing to
determine the favorites in the pre-election struggle. Today, ten
days before the completion of the agitation campaign, even without
corresponding public opinion studies, we can conclude that the main
struggle will be between Bako Sahakyan and Vitaly Balasanyan. We'll
not state that the other two presidential candidates will have to
perform an unpleasant role of extras in the upcoming elections -
eventually, each of them has his own program and electorate, but the
realities should be taken into consideration.
Surely, the struggle for the presidential post suggests competition
of the candidates and their pre-election programs. Acquaintance
with the programs of the main contenders suggests that in terms of
content they have much in common and actually cover all the areas
of the social-economic and political life of the Republic. A certain
similarity exists also in the determination of the major problems that
Nagorno Karabakh faces. The only difference is in the methodology of
their solution and in the conceptual approaches to the implementation
of the proposals put forward. Perhaps, only the provisions relating to
the foreign policy priorities coincide completely - the international
recognition of the NKR as an independent and sovereign state, the
restoration of the full format of the negotiations on the Karabakh
conflict settlement, with the participation of the NKR, the further
development and intensification of the relations between Artsakh,
Armenia and the Diaspora.
The main thesis of the NKR acting President during the pre-election
campaign is to continue what was started, basing on the society. In
his message to the voters, he called upon his compatriots "to work
together constructively for the benefit of each and everyone, for
the welfare of our state". As for his opponent, he mostly builds his
pre-election campaign on the criticism of the current authorities,
hoping for the protest electorate, which, I must say, is peculiar
to any society. However, it should be noted that the fair problems,
which are pointed out by Vitaly Balasanyan, are also noted by Bako
Sahakyan, who offers to solve them, taking into account the real
possibilities of the Republic.
It is quite natural that Armenia cannot remain indifferent to the
political developments in the NKR, especially on such a level as the
presidential elections. It is also natural that different viewpoints
on any events in our Republic are expressed. However, sometimes you
can meet, I may say so, analyses of primitive political scientists,
which cannot be called otherwise than direct insult to the Karabakh
society. Someone calls upon the local opposition for the "orange
revolution", someone calls the upcoming elections fiction and
profanation. Somehow, the so-called analysts imagine the life in
Karabakh, in their own words, as a swamp. If the hard life in the NKR
is meant, then, in fact, nobody denies this. As the saying goes, and
for whom is it easy? After the collapse of the USSR, it is difficult
to find a state-administrative formation in the post-Soviet area,
which would correspond to the European standards on its parameters.
One should come to this, and important are the trends and dynamics of
development, which is observed in Artsakh. And which of the candidates
will continue the dynamics of the NKR social-economic and political
development will be, surely, decided by the voters - on Thursday,
July 19.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=758:t he-competition-of-the-candidates-is-competition-of-their-programs&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Thursday, 12 July 2012 08:04
The pre-election campaign in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has long
crossed the "equator" and moved to its finish. Exactly ten days
are remained before the end of the pre-election campaign in support
of the candidates for the highest post in the state, after which,
on the eve of the voting process, the so-called "day of silence"
will be announced.
Surely, the concept of "silence" is quite relative here and reflects
only the purely legal requirement to cease public speeches of the
candidates and their supporting political parties and individuals.
There is no doubt that it is in the "day of silence" that voters will
determine their wishes and preferences in a relaxed atmosphere.
However, it is clear, since the elections of the President as such
can be considered the apotheosis of all the electoral processes and
the further development of the NKR and its future as a whole depend,
without any exaggeration, on their outcome. The presidential elections
as an event of political and national importance are the next step for
the understanding of the way passed and for the prioritization of the
development of our independent statehood and democratic institutions.
So, they are directly related to each of us, that's why we can be
sure that the Karabakh voters will display their usual activity and
high electoral culture.
We'd like to remind our readers that four presidential candidates were
at the start of the pre-election race - Member of the NKR National
Assembly Vitaly Balasanyan, NKR Acting President Bako Sahakyan,
Deputy Director for educational and scientific works of the Stepanakert
branch of the Yerevan State Agricultural University Arkady Soghomonyan
and Chairman of Civil Society NGO Valery Khachatryan. We'll not be
mistaken if we say that the intensity of the presidential candidates'
meetings with the voters serves a peculiar indicator allowing to
determine the favorites in the pre-election struggle. Today, ten
days before the completion of the agitation campaign, even without
corresponding public opinion studies, we can conclude that the main
struggle will be between Bako Sahakyan and Vitaly Balasanyan. We'll
not state that the other two presidential candidates will have to
perform an unpleasant role of extras in the upcoming elections -
eventually, each of them has his own program and electorate, but the
realities should be taken into consideration.
Surely, the struggle for the presidential post suggests competition
of the candidates and their pre-election programs. Acquaintance
with the programs of the main contenders suggests that in terms of
content they have much in common and actually cover all the areas
of the social-economic and political life of the Republic. A certain
similarity exists also in the determination of the major problems that
Nagorno Karabakh faces. The only difference is in the methodology of
their solution and in the conceptual approaches to the implementation
of the proposals put forward. Perhaps, only the provisions relating to
the foreign policy priorities coincide completely - the international
recognition of the NKR as an independent and sovereign state, the
restoration of the full format of the negotiations on the Karabakh
conflict settlement, with the participation of the NKR, the further
development and intensification of the relations between Artsakh,
Armenia and the Diaspora.
The main thesis of the NKR acting President during the pre-election
campaign is to continue what was started, basing on the society. In
his message to the voters, he called upon his compatriots "to work
together constructively for the benefit of each and everyone, for
the welfare of our state". As for his opponent, he mostly builds his
pre-election campaign on the criticism of the current authorities,
hoping for the protest electorate, which, I must say, is peculiar
to any society. However, it should be noted that the fair problems,
which are pointed out by Vitaly Balasanyan, are also noted by Bako
Sahakyan, who offers to solve them, taking into account the real
possibilities of the Republic.
It is quite natural that Armenia cannot remain indifferent to the
political developments in the NKR, especially on such a level as the
presidential elections. It is also natural that different viewpoints
on any events in our Republic are expressed. However, sometimes you
can meet, I may say so, analyses of primitive political scientists,
which cannot be called otherwise than direct insult to the Karabakh
society. Someone calls upon the local opposition for the "orange
revolution", someone calls the upcoming elections fiction and
profanation. Somehow, the so-called analysts imagine the life in
Karabakh, in their own words, as a swamp. If the hard life in the NKR
is meant, then, in fact, nobody denies this. As the saying goes, and
for whom is it easy? After the collapse of the USSR, it is difficult
to find a state-administrative formation in the post-Soviet area,
which would correspond to the European standards on its parameters.
One should come to this, and important are the trends and dynamics of
development, which is observed in Artsakh. And which of the candidates
will continue the dynamics of the NKR social-economic and political
development will be, surely, decided by the voters - on Thursday,
July 19.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper