Pre-election public debates started

24-03-2007 12:48:46 – KarabakhOpen

Public debates have started in Karabakh as the presidential election
is drawing nearer. Meanwhile, the political forces have not named
candidates, and discussion goes on in the media mainly, by separate
people. KarabakhOpen became the main forum where these debates go
on. Over the past few days, our newspaper has published the opinions
of a number of people on various aspects of the election.

The main topics of the discussion are the possible candidates, the
usefulness of an alternative, opposition opinion, as well as the
relation of the presidential election in Karabakh to the outcome of
the Armenian parliamentary election. Interesting opinions are heard
during the debates. The impression is that Karabakh is trying to
revaluate the past 15 years from the point of view of democracy and
real independence. It is mentioned frequently that Armenia cannot
interfere with the election in Karabakh. Both the pro-government and
opposition figures talk about it. It is true that the nuances are
different. However, everyone says it is time to stop turning to
Yerevan for every issue and to solve our problems ourselves. Although
almost everyone admits that the opinion of Kocharyan is important.

The second topic is the alternative opinion. The previous presidential
elections in Karabakh were highly predictable. It would not be true to
say that the elections were falsified, but the voters did not have a
choice because there was always a favorite among the candidates. Now
the situation is different. There is no favorite but there is an
alternative opinion. And it is difficult for people to orient in this
situation which is new to them, Discussions go on.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress