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Donnah O Beach: Competitiveness in Nagorno-Karabakh presidential
elections was unexpectedly high
15:46 20/04/2013 » INTERVIEWS
The election campaign of the Nagorno-Karabakh President was open, in
contrast to analogous elections held in Prednestrove, Donnah O Beach
from Dublin University (Ireland) stated while giving a speech at the
Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies during
discussions on "Elections in 'de facto' states.'
According to the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty", by saying "de
facto" they mean Abkhazia, Transdniestria and Nagorno-Karabakh. The
publication states that Donnah O Beach is the author of the book
titled "Color revolutions in former Soviet republics: successes and
failures." His speeches at the conference were interesting and
controversial, and some participants from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and
Moldova criticized the report.
The report of O Beach stated that the local population must live
somehow until the conflict is settled, and for this it should choose a
government to address the current issues and from this point of view,
the election can be justified.
"As for the election, O Beach mentions 3 reasons of holding elections
in regions which are not recognized by the international community.
First of all, these are elections, in which the outcome is not known
initially, these are competitive elections. The second distinguishing
feature is the lower level of influence on the election by the
"country- patrons" than it was anticipated. Third, the questions
raised by the election should be identical to those found in other
elections," the article reads.
According to the speaker, despite the arrangement in the zone of
conflict, issues of independence and territorial disputes should not
prevail over such issues as health care, employment, roads, etc: "No
one spoke about Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Only about education,
roads and health care."
As for the specifics the election campaign in Transdniestria was
"dirty" in contrast to the one held in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh,
he thinks. A distinctive feature in Transdniestria became the Moscow
candidate loss.
Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh, O Beach noted that the potentials
of candidates for the presidential elections in 2012 were not equal.
According to him, the elections in Nagorno-Karabakh are similar to
elections held in the former Soviet area. However, the speaker
stressed that Vitaly Balasanyan from the opposition participated in
the elections and scored 32% of votes. "Not a single oppositionist
candidate in the history of Nagorno-Karabakh had never received such a
large number of votes," said the speaker.
O Beach says that Freedom House in its regular report on the situation
of democracy has assessed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as "partly
free." The active participation of the opposition candidate played its
significant role in this assessment. "It is important for the
political elite of Nagorno-Karabakh to get such an estimate from the
Freedom House," he said.
O Beach noted that the competition during the elections was
surprisingly high. "The results of the elections in Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan were known in advance. While here the elections were held
the results of which were not known in advance ", said the speaker.
Russia analyst Sergey Markedonov noted in his speech that the
existence of "de facto states" proves that the process of formation of
post-Soviet countries has not ended yet.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian
elections was unexpectedly high
15:46 20/04/2013 » INTERVIEWS
The election campaign of the Nagorno-Karabakh President was open, in
contrast to analogous elections held in Prednestrove, Donnah O Beach
from Dublin University (Ireland) stated while giving a speech at the
Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies during
discussions on "Elections in 'de facto' states.'
According to the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty", by saying "de
facto" they mean Abkhazia, Transdniestria and Nagorno-Karabakh. The
publication states that Donnah O Beach is the author of the book
titled "Color revolutions in former Soviet republics: successes and
failures." His speeches at the conference were interesting and
controversial, and some participants from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and
Moldova criticized the report.
The report of O Beach stated that the local population must live
somehow until the conflict is settled, and for this it should choose a
government to address the current issues and from this point of view,
the election can be justified.
"As for the election, O Beach mentions 3 reasons of holding elections
in regions which are not recognized by the international community.
First of all, these are elections, in which the outcome is not known
initially, these are competitive elections. The second distinguishing
feature is the lower level of influence on the election by the
"country- patrons" than it was anticipated. Third, the questions
raised by the election should be identical to those found in other
elections," the article reads.
According to the speaker, despite the arrangement in the zone of
conflict, issues of independence and territorial disputes should not
prevail over such issues as health care, employment, roads, etc: "No
one spoke about Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Only about education,
roads and health care."
As for the specifics the election campaign in Transdniestria was
"dirty" in contrast to the one held in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh,
he thinks. A distinctive feature in Transdniestria became the Moscow
candidate loss.
Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh, O Beach noted that the potentials
of candidates for the presidential elections in 2012 were not equal.
According to him, the elections in Nagorno-Karabakh are similar to
elections held in the former Soviet area. However, the speaker
stressed that Vitaly Balasanyan from the opposition participated in
the elections and scored 32% of votes. "Not a single oppositionist
candidate in the history of Nagorno-Karabakh had never received such a
large number of votes," said the speaker.
O Beach says that Freedom House in its regular report on the situation
of democracy has assessed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as "partly
free." The active participation of the opposition candidate played its
significant role in this assessment. "It is important for the
political elite of Nagorno-Karabakh to get such an estimate from the
Freedom House," he said.
O Beach noted that the competition during the elections was
surprisingly high. "The results of the elections in Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan were known in advance. While here the elections were held
the results of which were not known in advance ", said the speaker.
Russia analyst Sergey Markedonov noted in his speech that the
existence of "de facto states" proves that the process of formation of
post-Soviet countries has not ended yet.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian