Artsakh Armenians’ democratic victory

Editorial

Yerkir/Arm
24 June 05

The June 19 election to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) National
Assembly was a victory for Armenians in terms of strengthening the
democracy in the liberated Artsakh. Over 1,500 foreign observers
watching the race and the vote noted that Artsakh conducted free,
transparent and clean election.

They also pointed out that Azerbaijan should learn lessons from
Artsakh’s democracy. Even the American observers’ spokesman stated
that it would be better for Baku to win in the democratic battle
rather than in the race of armaments.

Would Azerbaijan learn its lessons or not is not important; but it is
appropriate to congratulate the entire people of Artsakh — the
electorate, authorities, political forces — over this victory of
democracy. This success that would significantly increase the
international image of Artsakh, the people of Artsakh proved that
they are mature and determined to fix their home democratically.

It was, indeed, not an easy task to remain on the democratic path
during the election, especially in such vigorous race with the
pro-government circles united around the NKR president on the one
side, and the opposition seeking fundamental reforms on the other.
The latter included the ARF Artsakh organization. The fact is that in
the pre-election stage, the government used its resources to get
desired outcome, but the strong race helped to avoid any rigging on
the day of the voting.

It is a topic of a separate and serious discussion why the
reform-seeking opposition lost so heavily in the National Assembly
election, and especially in the single-mandate constituencies. The
electorate effectively chose to elect the so-called business people,
unequivocally distancing from the candidates who stood in the roots
of the Artsakh liberation war. Even under the proportionate
(party-list) system, the opposition took only 27 percent of the
votes.

Such stance of the electorate offers a number of lessons for the
forces, including the ARF Artsakh organization, which want radical
changes in the way of the governance. After all, the outcome of the
June 19 election came to prove that fears of turmoil and instability
have deep roots in our people: the majority effectively hopes to
improve its life conditions through the investments of the
businessmen.

The democratic election held on June 19, however, is also valuable
because it guarantees that the long fight for political reforms would
be kept away from election fraud.

Droshak
June 2005