Tweet
ARTSAKH HAS ELECTED A PRESIDENT: THE UNRECOGNIZED REPUBLIC EXPECTS THE SOLUTION OF SOCIOECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Viktoriya Panfilova
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
July 20 2012
Russia
Bako Sahakyan, leader of Nagornyy Karabakh, voted for a continuation
of the course he has begun
Presidential elections were held yesterday in the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Three candidates, including sitting
president Bako Sahakyan, were vying for the post of leader of the
republic. NATO and the European Union and also neighbouring Turkey and
Azerbaijan said that they do not recognize the elections in the NKR.
Turnout in Nagornyy Karabakh is high, as a rule. The present elections
were no exception. Approximately 70 per cent of eligible citizens
had gone to the polls by the time the issue was signed to press.
Approximately 99,000 persons are eligible altogether.
Aharon Adibekyan, head of the Sociometer Sociological Research Centre,
believes that there will be no second round. According to a poll
that was held, Bako Sahakyan will win a convincing victory - around
75 per cent of the vote. His rivals - Vitaliy Balasanyan, hero of
Artsakh, major general of the NKR Defence Army, and member of the NKR
parliament, and also Arkadiy Sogomonyan, vice president for scientific
studies of the Stepanakert branch of the State Agrarian University
of Armenia - will drop out, according to the poll, having shared 25
per cent per cent. We recall that 85 per cent of the citizenry voted
for Sahakyan five years ago. But Gegam Bagdasaryan, president of
the Stepanakert Press Club, is not inclined to trust this forecast
since the poll was commissioned by a political party of the NKR,
Free Homeland, on which Bako Sahakyan relies for support.
Experts noted that the pollster Adibekyan maintained a month ago,
relying on the latest study, that Bako Sahakyan would muster no more
than 30 per cent of the vote. How in a month the forecast changed
and become optimistic, no one would venture to say. Nonetheless,
the majority of observers believe that the sitting Karabakh leader
will win the elections, all the same.
"It is not inconceivable that the elections will require more than one
round. There is also another scenario of the outcome. It is possible
that a majority of the army, and this is a very serious factor in
Karabakh, could vote for Vitaliy Balasanyan, who is one of 20 heroes
of Artsakh (the Republic of Artsakh is the second official name of the
NKR - NG) and enjoys great authority among military personnel. In that
case a second round is not ruled out," Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the
Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech, told NG. He remarked
also that 75 per cent of polled citizens of Karabakh expect of the
future president primarily a resolution of socioeconomic problems, and
only 9 per cent of the citizenry, a settlement of the Karabakh problem.
Stepanakert expects that the visiting monitors from Russia, the United
States, Germany, France, Poland, Israel, and other countries and also
from the partially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia will, as on
the last occasion, make a positive assessment of the elections. And
this is natural, Ashot Melikyan says, because, on the whole, there
are fewer violations in the NKR than in Armenia, say. This applies to
ballot-rigging also. In Karabakh people themselves decide for whom to
vote. This explains also the high turnout on polling day. That the
system itself within the NKR is such that there are opportunities
to make use of administrative resources is another matter. But it
should be noted here that the present leader Bako Sahakyan, despite
the criticism of him, both enjoys popularity among the citizenry and
the full support of official Yerevan and of President Serzh Sargsyan
personally.
The statement of Catherine Ashton, vice president of the European
Commission and high representative of the European Union for
foreign affairs and security policy: "The EU does not recognize the
constitutional or legal framework in which they will be held. These
elections should not be detrimental to determination of the future
status of Nagornyy Karabakh within the overall framework of the
negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict," was against
this background unexpected. The European diplomat called on the parties
to focus "on the search for a resolution of the conflict within the
negot iations based on the Madrid principles." The EU, in turn, Ashton
says, will continue to support the parties' efforts in this area.
NATO is not happy with the elections either. James Appathurai,
the NATO secretary general's special representative for the South
Caucasus and Central Asia, said that "NATO, like a number of other
international organizations also, does not recognize the elections in
Nagornyy Karabakh." He said that the holding of such elections does
not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the conflict.
Neighbouring countries - Turkey and Azerbaijan - are of a similar
opinion. They viewed the presidential elections in Nagornyy Karabakh
as a provocative step by Armenia. These countries' foreign ministries
believe that a plebiscite in the unrecognized republic is contrary
to the commitments to the OSCE and the decisions of the UN Security
Council. And strikes a "blow" at the process of a peaceful settlement
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and they declared the international
monitors personae non gratae. "Those monitoring the voting in Nagornyy
Karabakh will be listed as persons undesirable for Azerbaijan,"
Elman Abdullayev, director of the Foreign Ministry press service, said.
In response to such statements, the political scientist Sergey
Minasyan, deputy director of the Caucasus Institute, said that,
as distinct from the neighbouring country (Azerbaijan - NG), power
in the NKR is being formed not on the hereditary principle but as a
result of elections.
[Translated from Russian]
Viktoriya Panfilova
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
July 20 2012
Russia
Bako Sahakyan, leader of Nagornyy Karabakh, voted for a continuation
of the course he has begun
Presidential elections were held yesterday in the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Three candidates, including sitting
president Bako Sahakyan, were vying for the post of leader of the
republic. NATO and the European Union and also neighbouring Turkey and
Azerbaijan said that they do not recognize the elections in the NKR.
Turnout in Nagornyy Karabakh is high, as a rule. The present elections
were no exception. Approximately 70 per cent of eligible citizens
had gone to the polls by the time the issue was signed to press.
Approximately 99,000 persons are eligible altogether.
Aharon Adibekyan, head of the Sociometer Sociological Research Centre,
believes that there will be no second round. According to a poll
that was held, Bako Sahakyan will win a convincing victory - around
75 per cent of the vote. His rivals - Vitaliy Balasanyan, hero of
Artsakh, major general of the NKR Defence Army, and member of the NKR
parliament, and also Arkadiy Sogomonyan, vice president for scientific
studies of the Stepanakert branch of the State Agrarian University
of Armenia - will drop out, according to the poll, having shared 25
per cent per cent. We recall that 85 per cent of the citizenry voted
for Sahakyan five years ago. But Gegam Bagdasaryan, president of
the Stepanakert Press Club, is not inclined to trust this forecast
since the poll was commissioned by a political party of the NKR,
Free Homeland, on which Bako Sahakyan relies for support.
Experts noted that the pollster Adibekyan maintained a month ago,
relying on the latest study, that Bako Sahakyan would muster no more
than 30 per cent of the vote. How in a month the forecast changed
and become optimistic, no one would venture to say. Nonetheless,
the majority of observers believe that the sitting Karabakh leader
will win the elections, all the same.
"It is not inconceivable that the elections will require more than one
round. There is also another scenario of the outcome. It is possible
that a majority of the army, and this is a very serious factor in
Karabakh, could vote for Vitaliy Balasanyan, who is one of 20 heroes
of Artsakh (the Republic of Artsakh is the second official name of the
NKR - NG) and enjoys great authority among military personnel. In that
case a second round is not ruled out," Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the
Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech, told NG. He remarked
also that 75 per cent of polled citizens of Karabakh expect of the
future president primarily a resolution of socioeconomic problems, and
only 9 per cent of the citizenry, a settlement of the Karabakh problem.
Stepanakert expects that the visiting monitors from Russia, the United
States, Germany, France, Poland, Israel, and other countries and also
from the partially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia will, as on
the last occasion, make a positive assessment of the elections. And
this is natural, Ashot Melikyan says, because, on the whole, there
are fewer violations in the NKR than in Armenia, say. This applies to
ballot-rigging also. In Karabakh people themselves decide for whom to
vote. This explains also the high turnout on polling day. That the
system itself within the NKR is such that there are opportunities
to make use of administrative resources is another matter. But it
should be noted here that the present leader Bako Sahakyan, despite
the criticism of him, both enjoys popularity among the citizenry and
the full support of official Yerevan and of President Serzh Sargsyan
personally.
The statement of Catherine Ashton, vice president of the European
Commission and high representative of the European Union for
foreign affairs and security policy: "The EU does not recognize the
constitutional or legal framework in which they will be held. These
elections should not be detrimental to determination of the future
status of Nagornyy Karabakh within the overall framework of the
negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict," was against
this background unexpected. The European diplomat called on the parties
to focus "on the search for a resolution of the conflict within the
negot iations based on the Madrid principles." The EU, in turn, Ashton
says, will continue to support the parties' efforts in this area.
NATO is not happy with the elections either. James Appathurai,
the NATO secretary general's special representative for the South
Caucasus and Central Asia, said that "NATO, like a number of other
international organizations also, does not recognize the elections in
Nagornyy Karabakh." He said that the holding of such elections does
not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the conflict.
Neighbouring countries - Turkey and Azerbaijan - are of a similar
opinion. They viewed the presidential elections in Nagornyy Karabakh
as a provocative step by Armenia. These countries' foreign ministries
believe that a plebiscite in the unrecognized republic is contrary
to the commitments to the OSCE and the decisions of the UN Security
Council. And strikes a "blow" at the process of a peaceful settlement
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and they declared the international
monitors personae non gratae. "Those monitoring the voting in Nagornyy
Karabakh will be listed as persons undesirable for Azerbaijan,"
Elman Abdullayev, director of the Foreign Ministry press service, said.
In response to such statements, the political scientist Sergey
Minasyan, deputy director of the Caucasus Institute, said that,
as distinct from the neighbouring country (Azerbaijan - NG), power
in the NKR is being formed not on the hereditary principle but as a
result of elections.
[Translated from Russian]