PARLIAMENT DEPENDS ON PEOPLE’S VOTE

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
15 April 05

Laura Grigorian: `Mr. Nasibian, the nomination of candidates is
over. What are the results?’ Sergey Nasibian: `According to the
schedule of preparing and holding the election, on April 5-10 the
nomination of parliamentary candidates from constituencies and by
party tickets took place. For 22 constituency seats 127 candidates
have been nominated from 22 election districts. On average six were
nominated from each election district. 57 of 127 were nominated by
political parties, 70 by civil undertaking, by the decision of the
undertaking groups. The number of nominees for the election was
especially high in Stepanakert; 79 persons were nominated from 8
constituencies, which is on average 10 nominees from each election
district. In several election districts there are 10-11 nominees and
in the election district N 5 there are 14. In the regions the average
number of nominees per election district is 2 – 3 or 4, thehighest
number of nominees is 6. 8 of 9 political parties registered and
operating in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh will stand for the
election. Six of them will run by separate party tickets, two will run
for the election by a common party ticket. These are the ARF Artsakh
and `Movement 88′ which will be presented by the name `ARF – Movement
88′. Of the political parties `Armenakan’ did not nominate candidates
on party tickets, only from constituencies.’

L.G.: `What is the reason for the rise in the number of nominees?’

S.N. `In fact, against the previous election the number of nominees
has increased by 30- 40 per cent. The reason may be the development of
democratization in the republic. Actually, the political parties were
given the opportunity, and the citizens feel that they also can be
elected and take part in the governance of the country.’

L.G.: `What else could you tell about the preparation for the
election?’

S.N.: `In the period between April 10 and May 5 the Central Election
Committee and district committees will check the documents of the
nominees. Then on May 10 – 15 the candidates will be registered. The
candidates nominated from constituencies and on party tickets can
start the election campaign on May 17. At present the documents are
checked for falsification and correspondence to the Election Code.’

L.G.: `What means of campaigning will be used?’

S.N.: `There are different means of election campaign: meetings with
voters, debates, the mass media. Special order of using the mass media
for electioneering will be maintained. The constituency candidates
will have free and paid television time and space in the republic
newspaper. The candidates on party tickets will not have this
opportunity. In the Republic of Armenia, by the decision of the
Central Election Committee the candidates may run political ads on
private TV channels. There are no private TV channels in our country,
so we are looking for other ways. Maybe the party candidates will also
be allowed to use the public television and newspaper but not free of
charge.’

L.G.: `What measures does the CEC take to prevent electoral
corruption?’

S.N.: `Bribing as well as promises of bribe is a crime. If such cases
are revealed in election committees and during other election
procedures, the relevant bodies will be involved, and actions will be
suited. The nominees and later the candidates must be awareof this not
to resort to such steps.’

L.G.: `What is the peculiarity of this election? How will it differ
from the previous elections?’

S.N.:`First of all, this will be the first election after the adoption
of the common election code. We used to have different election codes
for presidential, parliamentary and local governmental elections. Now
we will be guided by one election code. The election system was also
changed: there will be the Central Election Committee, and district
election committees instead of the former regional and town
committees. In each election district (22) there is an election
committee (22) and district election committees. The order of
constituting district election committees has changed as well: three
of the members are appointed by the NKR president, the present
parliamentary factions of the National Democratic Party and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation appoint two members each. The
district election committees will be formed 20 – 21 days before the
election. Each district committee will appoint a person in each
district. According to thenew election code, the results of
presidential, parliamentary and local governmental elections will be
considered valid if turnout is above 25 per cent. There is innovation
in the order of the electoral registers. Formerly, we included in the
registers the persons who were residents or were temporarily living in
the given place. By the new order only the citizens who are residents
of the given area will be included in the electoral registers. The
work in this direction has already begun; this will be the most
difficult task in this election because there has been considerable
move within the republic because of thewar and other
circumstances. The lists of voters will be available at the voting
stations 45 days before the election. And another thing too: formerly
different signs were used to vote, such as `v’, `x’,`yes’. Now only
`v’ will be considered valid. Besides, the persons on military service
cannot vote for constituency candidates. They will vote for party
candidates only, which means that the soldiers can vote at the nearest
voting station to the military unit.’

L.G.: `What measures will you take to provide fair and transparent
elections?’

S.N.: `The CEC committee has worked out and published all the
definitions and orders for fair, free and transparent
elections. Certain work has been donewith the district
committees. After the stage of registering candidates is over,we will
hold a consultation with the candidates in order for them to be aware
of the maintained order. The rest depends on the district election
committees. After setting up the committees we will hold
seminar-consultations with them to clarify the procedure of voting.’

L.G.: `Are there many members of parliament among the nominees?’

S.N.: `Almost 70 per cent of the members of the present parliament
will stand for the election. There are members of parliament who will
run for the elections for constituency seats and by party tickets at
the same time.’

L.G.: `What is the motivation for becoming a member of parliament? ‘

S.N.: `I think there are persons who have certain experience as
parliamentarians and want to continue. There are also people who do
not imagine themselves in that position. I must add that the
percentage of votes has no importance, the candidates who will get the
highest number of votes will beelected.’

L.G.: `Do you mean that not all the candidates are worth of the title
of Member of Parliament?’

S.N.: `It is the people that should give anevaluation and not
us. According to the law, we admitted the documents which corresponded
to the order. If there are no mistakes, we will register them as
candidates.’

L.G.: `Can we be sure to tell after the elections that we elected a
worthy parliament which will efficiently operate for the sake of
development and stability in the country?’

S.N.: `The preliminary acquaintance with the nominees and their files
shows that among the 127 constituency nominees and nominees on party
tickets there are people of different occupations, people involved in
politics, who are worthy of being elected, and if they are elected,
the parliament will take a step ahead. Therefore, everything depends
on people, whether they will manage to make a right choice to form a
parliament which will stabilize the political plane of the country and
strengthen the foundations of democracy in the republic.’

LAURA GRIGORIAN.
15-04-2005

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress