Karabakh leader vows “fair and transparent” elections

Mediamax news agency
18 Jun 05

Yerevan, 18 June: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
(NKR), Arkadiy Gukasyan, has addressed the nation in connection with
the forthcoming 19 June parliamentary elections.

Gukasyan said the election campaign “has been positive as a whole
and is another step towards the further democratization of our state
and society”.

“However, I have to admit with regret that some candidates, who ignore
basic ethic norms, have set themselves only one goal- to discredit
the authorities and their rivals at all costs in the election
struggle. But they failed to come up with their own programmes of
legislative activity,” he said.

“What causes special concern here is that the election campaign has
seen some insinuations and slander as well. Specifically, there have
been false rumours that the government is putting pressure on the
electorate, intimidating people and banning voters from meeting their
candidates. I can assure you with full responsibility that there has
not been and cannot be anything of this kind,” Gukasyan said.

The NKR president also said that during the election campaign “we
heard some statements which might cause a split in our society and
inflict irreparable damage on the security interests of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic”.

Gukasyan said that the 19 June parliamentary elections “will definitely
be fair and transparent”. “I guarantee this as the president. I can
assure you that anyone’s attempts to break the law and destabilize
the post-election situation will be assessed appropriately. Those who
initiate and execute this will be punished to the fullest extent of
the law,” he said.

“The forthcoming elections are of international importance to Nagornyy
Karabakh. Our attitude towards the elections has to demonstrate to
the world that democratic reforms are irreversible in the country and
secure the international recognition of the NKR. If the forthcoming
parliamentary elections do not meet European standards, this will
have a negative impact on the reputation and name of our state in the
world, which might negatively affect the peace process of settling
our conflict with Azerbaijan. In other words, at stake is the fate
of Artsakh [Karabakh] and our achievements,” Gukasyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress