DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS BEING STRENGTHENED

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
22 June 05

On the eve of the parliamentary election the representatives of the
mass media of Nagorno Karabakh met with the observers of the British
Helsinki Human Rights Group and other monitoring missions at the Press
Centre of the Central Election Committee. The meeting was special
because instead of the journalists asking questions the international
observers asked questions to the representatives of the official
newspaper Azat Artsakh, and the newspapers Demo and Aparazh to find
out their standpoint concerning the parliamentary election. All the
previous elections in Karabakh presidential, parliamentary, local were
held on a high level, which allows to hope that the results of this
election will be reassuring as well. The fact that there are observers
from different countries of the world to monitor the parliamentary
election proves once again that strengthening of democratic
institutions in Karabakh is going on, and on the other hand, the
interest of the world towards Nagorno Karabakh is increasing, said the
representative of Azat Artsakh, adding that hopefully after the
election the international community will take definite steps to
recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh. The international
community will, indeed, take into consideration the opinion of
Karabakh and finally become convinced that Karabakh is not part of
Azerbaijan but an independent entity, a newly independent state with
all the typical attributes, said the journalist. He also informed that
as a journalist he visited the electoral districts of the regions of
Hadrut, Martakert, Martuni with the chairman of the Central Election
Committee. My impression was that the preparation work in the
electoral districts was highly organized. No irregularities were
reported, and from the talks with the voters one felt that they would
be active at the parliamentary election, said the representative of
AA, adding that the people of Artsakh are politically mature people
and, therefore will make the right choice, proving by their votes that
they are the real masters of NKR. The representatives of the
oppositionist press mentioned about irregularities in the election
campaign, and certain candidates involved in bribery. In answer to the
question of the observers if AA had received complaints from
candidates or voters about irregularities, the representative of the
official newspaper said AA had received no complaints.

AA.
22-06-2005