Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR, UK
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 644
June 6, 2012
TWO MAIN CANDIDATES SQUARE UP FOR KARABAKH ELECTION
Decorated Karabakh war veteran seen as main challenger to incumbent.
By Karine Ohanyan
Nagorny Karabakh’s president Bako Sahakyan is running for a second
term in July, in an election that looks to be a real contest, even if
differences on key policy issues are more about nuances than complete
disagreement.
Before he was elected in 2007, Sahakyan was interior minister in
1997-2001, and the national security minister.
His most serious rival in the July 19 ballot is Vitaly Balasanyan, who
earned the highest military decoration during the war with Azerbaijan
in the early 1990s, which left an Armenian administration in control
of Nagorny Karabakh. Balasanyan served as deputy defence minister and
chairman of the war veterans’ organisation before becoming a member of
parliament.
There are two other candidates – Arkady Soghomonyan, an agricultural
specialist, and unemployed Valery Khachatryan – but the pundits doubt
either of them has much of a chance. Neither has spoken to the press,
and their phones go unanswered.
In contrast, Balasanyan is already campaigning via his Facebook page,
using a social networking site that proved very influential in the
recent parliamentary election in Armenia.
He told IWPR that under Karabakh’s laws, he is not technically allowed
to campaign until June 19, but he is updating his page every day with
his thoughts and photographs.
`I launched the page with the aim of engaging more actively,’
Balasanyan wrote in a recent post. `I’m going to put down my thoughts
and ideas and see how readers react. I think virtual conversations
will be productive.’
Diana Movsesyan, a graduate of Artsakh State University – the main
institute of higher education in Karabakh – has already clicked `like’
on Balasanyan’s Facebook page.
`I am convinced that Balasanyan’s candidacy gives us a chance to hold
a different kind of election in Karabakh. I want it to be democratic,
without pressure or anything,’ she said. `I hope that state
institutions don’t exploit their power [in favour of the incumbent]
ahead of the election. I hope this election changes the atmosphere in
the country, and I hope that afterwards, Karabakh will regain its
`partly free’ rating from Freedom House.’
In its report for this year, the Washington-based civil liberties
watchdog organisation Freedom House rated Karabakh as `not free’, a
deterioration from the `partly free’ ranking it held until 2009. In
the same listing, Armenia is described as `partly free’ and Azerbaijan
as `not free’.
In previous elections in Karabakh, voters’ choices have been blunted
by the fact that candidates generally adopt almost identical positions
on key issues like security, the aspiration for international
recognition, and pledges to improve living standards.
The Karabakh war ended with a ceasefire in 1994, but no lasting peace
agreement has been signed, and protracted negotiations led by France,
Russia and the United States have not succeeded in persuading the
Karabakh Armenians to give up their independence claim, the
Azerbaijani government to recognise that independence, or the two
sides to reach a compromise deal.
Armenian and Azerbaijani troops still face each other along the
fortified `line of control’ around Nagorny Karabakh, and shooting
incidents are frequent.
International groups like the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe do not send monitors to Karabakh to check on the
fairness of its elections, and candidates in previous polls have
complained that incumbents have drawn on state resources to assist
their campaigns.
Sahakyan, who won 85 per cent of the vote first time round in 2007,
has pledged to pursue his current social and economic reforms if he
gets another term.
As president, Sahakyan has naturally worked closely with officials
from Armenia, although that state has not recognised Karabakh as
independent.
Balasanyan said he did not think Armenia would formally back the
incumbent president.
`They are obliged to support any decision that the people of Nagorny
Karabakh take,’ he said.
Masis Mayilyan, who ran for the presidency in 2007 and now heads of
the Civic Council for Foreign Policy and Security, said he hoped this
election would open up politics.
`The forthcoming election… gives politicians the chance to redress the
mistakes that occurred ahead of the 2007 [presidential] and 2010
parliamentary elections. Those elections led to Karabakh having a
unipolar political arena and parliament, and the independent press was
wiped out,’ he said. `If the Dashnaktsutyun party supports Vitaly
Balasanyan, a parliamentarian and member of that party, then the
country wins even if he’s unsuccessful, since Dashnaktsutyun will be
an opposition party in parliament.’
Masis, who gained 12 per cent of the vote in 2007, has endorsed
Balasanyan, who has presented some new ideas about how to work towards
a deal at the peace talks.
Karabakh is excluded from the negotiations, in which Azerbaijan and
Armenia are the only state parties.
`The main thing I am unhappy about is Sahakyan’s foreign policy. He
isn’t doing enough to shift Karabakh from being the object of the
talks to being a subject,’ Balasanyan said.
`I will fight to secure the return of Karabakh to the negotiating
table as an equal participant, and I will work to ensure the swiftest
possible signing of an inter-state agreement [between Karabakh and
Armenia] assigning Armenia official status as guarantor of our
security.’
Karine Ohanyan is a reporter for Armedia Online.