Pre-Election Period: Only Intrigues

Naira Hayrumyan
The Demo Newspaper
19-03-2007 12:52:27 – KarabakhOpen

Frankly speaking, the presidential election in Karabakh overlapped
with a difficult period. According to the law, the election will be
held 50 days before the president leaves office. The day of the
election will be in mid-July. Nomination must start 90 days before
and finish 75 days before the election. In other words, nomination
will finish in mid-May.

Intrigue 1. Will the candidates manage to make up their mind?

The Armenian parliamentary election is on May 12. This is the first
intrigue: will the nomination of candidates in NKR finish before the
outcome of the election is known in Armenia? Why is it so important?
Because this election is unprecedented for Karabakh. For the first
time power is not passed on to an ` heir’, who is known
beforehand. Real election is coming up. Since this situation is new to
Karabakh, people are puzzled. Some people fear `destabilization ‘ or
just losing their jobs, and rushed to persuade Ghukasyan to run a
third term. Others started to look for enemies, announcing that
pollsters and those who are discussing the election early are
controlled from `the outside’ and are against democracy. Yet others
keep silent, waiting to see who will be nominated to go and tell him
how they had longed for him. Meanwhile, the potential candidates are
waiting for the outcome of the election in Armenia to evaluate their
`real potential’.

Intrigue 2: Give us opposition and we will cast stones at it

What is going on in Karabakh in reality? The cause of this confusion
is the uncertainty of the political parties. There is horrible silence
in the political sphere. The representatives of all the political
parties tell reporters that they will make a decision in late March or
early April. Except the political parties there are no `orienting’
forces in Karabakh. Even the acting president decided not to `orient’
this time. Ghukasyan said in a meeting with students he will not give
names: you decide what to do. It is possible that he does not endorse
any candidate who is pointed to, and he prefers to keep silent. Now
what is the poor society supposed to do? People discuss in kitchens,
public transport, at work the merits and disadvantages of the possible
candidates. Every day new rumors come. But all this takes place behind
the stage, not in the political sphere. The country seems to have
appeared in an information vacuum. Here an idea occurs ` let us find
an opposition to talk about it. However, it is impossible ` there is
no opposition!

Intrigue 3: Election with one candidate

In this uncertainty, a ray of hope appeared suddenly. KarabakhOpen.com
found out that the Azat Hayrenik Party decided to support Bako
Sahakyan in the election. But the same source published the comment by
the leader of this party Arayik Harutiunyan, who did not deny this
information but said a final decision would be made 15 days later.
Well, we will wait for 15 days. And we will not make a fuss, following
the advice of friends. We are a normal, quiet, even somehow hypnotized
society, and others make decisions for us. People are amazed when
someone discusses the election with hardly a month to go before the
election. They are right. What’ s the point in discussing? Analysts
say it is possible that only one candidate will be running in the
election in Karabakh. In other words, if a candidate appears who will
stand every chance to win, others will not take a try. In this case,
however, analysts say people may get disappointed, and turnout will be
low.

Intrigue next: Election legislation is being modified

Meanwhile, the government undertook amendments to the Electoral Code.
According to the chair of the Central Electoral Commission Sergey
Nasibyan, 124 amendments were proposed, part of them stem from the
necessity to make the Code comply with the Constitution. There are a
few interesting provisions among them, for instance, it is proposed to
lower the eligible age for a member of parliament from 25 to 23. It is
also proposed to prolong the office of municipal governments from 3 to
4 years. The structure of the electoral commissions and the order of
nomination and registration may change as well. However, according to
Nasibyan, the amendments will not affect the term of nomination.