ELECTION AND FINANCE

KarabakhOpen
08-06-2007 14:20:27

Each of the five presidential candidates, in accordance with the law,
submitted a document on the pre-election collateral of 1 million
drams. If the candidates get less than 5 percent of votes, the money
goes to the state budget, if the candidates gets more than 5 percent,
the money is returned to the candidates.

The chair of the CEC Sergey Nasibyan says the pre-election funds of
the candidates should not exceed 6 million drams. The money must be
spent on the election campaign. Reception and spending of these funds
will be controlled by the CEC.

Bank accounts for the pre-election funds can be opened in any bank
of NKR.

According to the Electoral Code, the funds accrue from the own funds of
the candidates, the party, the supporters of the candidates, donations
of organizations and individuals. According to Sergey Nasibyan, there
is no timing on setting up the fund, it can be set up over the last
few days of the campaign.

The candidates need the money not only for the nomination but also
for the election campaign, to buy airtime on TV and radio. The law
provides for 80 minutes of free airtime on the Public Television to
each candidate, and if the candidate wishes to buy airtime, he has
to pay 30 thousand drams per minute on TV and 15 thousand drams per
minute on the radio.

The other TV and radio companies set their prices, but according
to Sergey Nasibyan, all the TV and radio companies, as well as the
republic newspaper must provide equal opportunities for all the
candidates.