KARABAKH PARTIES SAID TO SUPPORT THE HEAD OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY SERVIC

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:21:47

The Karabakh parliament parties – the Democratic Party of Artsakh,
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the Azat Hayrenik Party and the Movement 88
party – agreed on the internal and foreign political principles for
the upcoming few years and stated that in the presidential election
on July 19 they will support the head of the National Security
Service Bako Sahakyan. The statement was released in the evening
of May 7. Besides Bako Sahakyan, Vania Avanesyan, Hrant Melkumyan,
Masis Mayilyan and Armen Abgaryan were nominated.

According to Davit Babayan, a political scientist, Vania Avanesyan,
professor at Artsakh State University, will work with the professors
and students of the university. The head of the National Security
Service Bako Sahakyan, who is supported by the main parties of the
country, has a broad electorate which actually includes all the layers
of the society in Karabakh. The leader of the Communist Party will
count on the segment nostalgic for the Communist rule.

"The possible electorate of the two other candidates, the deputy
foreign minister Masis Mayilyan and Member of Parliament Armen
Abgaryan, is of peculiar importance. Since both are government
officials, the main stress will be on the protest voters.

A unique situation has occurred about the current election. There
are no opposition and pro-government candidates. All the candidates
except the leader of the Communist Party were nominated by a civil
initiative. Secondly, the main parties, including the opposition
parties, supported the single candidate.

Thirdly, the programs of the candidates will have a lot in
common. Therefore we think the main strategy will be the protest
voters for whom the ideologies of the parties are secondary," said
Davit Babayan.

"The name of the NKR deputy foreign minister Masis Mayilyan on the
list of the candidates is already a small victory in sustaining the
democratic image of the country," says Member of Parliament Gegham
Baghdasaryan. "Obviously the pre-election period passes in the
backstage mode rather than publicly, which contradicts to the logic
of the classic political struggle. The developments are not based on
ideological struggle, which would be desirable, but under a political
and other calculations, in which the ideas and principles were cropped
in "a single candidate". And if nothing obstructed this course of
developments, one day the party elite would lead the electorate into
a deadlock, depriving it of an alternative, i.e. real choice. An
identical scenario presupposed a formal alternative which from the
beginning appeared in different weights with the single candidate."

Apart from all it would be a stroke for the democratic image of
the country.

Meanwhile, the nomination of Masis Mayilyan, who has considerable
authority, thwarted this plan.

Time will show what percentage of non-politicized and unpartisan voters
will vote for Masis Mayilyan but it is obvious that his electorate
will at least be equal to the voters for the "single candidate". And
it means there is real choice. It means the democratic reputation of
the country was "saved". What is more, not by joint effort.