NAGORNY KARABAKH TO ELECT NEXT PRESIDENT JULY 19
Agence France Presse — English
April 4, 2007 Wednesday
The disputed Caucasus region of Nagorny Karabakh will hold presidential
elections on July 19, a spokesman for the regional parliament said
Wednesday.
"Presidential elections are required 50 days before the end of the
current head of state’s term," parliamentary spokesman Mikael Hajian
told AFP.
President Arkady Gukasian, elected in 1997 and 2002, is
constitutionally barred from running for a third term.
Armenian forces seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan during a war
in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 35,000 lives and forced
about a million people on both sides to flee their homes.
A ceasefire was signed in 1994, but the two countries have cut direct
economic and transport links and failed to negotiate a settlement on
the status of the enclave.