KARABAKH TO ELECT NEW PRESIDENT ON JULY 19
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 4 2007

Voters in Nagorno-Karabakh will go to the polls on July 19 to elect
the disputed region’s new president, it was announced on Wednesday.

The date of the presidential election was set by the parliament of
the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

Arkady Ghukasian, the NKR’s current president who has been in power
since 1997, repeated earlier this year that he will not be seeking
a third term in office despite what he called numerous requests
ordinary people, prominent public figures and unnamed "famous foreign
diplomats."

A Karabakh law bars him from running for a third term. Commentators
in Stepanakert and Yerevan had suggested that Ghukasian could use the
adoption of Karabakh’s first-ever constitution in a referendum last
December to circumvent this restriction by declaring a new countdown
of presidential tenures.

In a February 21 statement, Ghukasian claimed that the NKR constitution
does allow him to remain in power. But he said he has decided to step
down because he believes that would make Karabakh’s political system
more democratic and improve its image abroad. The 49-year-old former
journalist has so far avoided endorsing anyone for the presidency.

Among the likely election frontrunners are Bako Sahakian, chief of
a local security service, and parliament speaker Ashot Ghulian.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress