Currently, there are many rumors flying around about the candidates for the next presidential elections in Karabakh. Some levels of society are mentioning the names of well-known people, while others are talking about new candidates, however there still hasn’t been an official announcement to this day.
The problem is that 2007 marks the end of current President of Karabakh Arkadi Ghukasyan’s second term. According to the “President Law”, the citizen of Karabakh can’t serve more than two terms.
The “Open Society” NGO of Karabakh has taken the initiative of conducting a survey from different levels of society. The survey includes the names of 14 public and political figures, who may become presidential candidates. The people surveyed must vote for one of the mentioned candidates.
150 people participated in the survey, of which 31 voted for Chairman of the National Assembly of Karabakh Ashot Ghulyan. Head of the “ARF-Movement ‘88” deputy team Armen Sargsyan comes in second with 24 votes, while Defense Minister of Karabakh Seyran Ohanyan is in third place with 15 votes. Eleven people voted for mayor of the city of Stepanakert Edward Aghabekyan and former foreign minister of Karabakh Masis Mayilyan respectively. Head of the National Security Service of Karabakh Bako Sahakyan and Karabakh National Assembly MP (“ARF-Movement ‘88” faction) Gegham Baghdasaryan got five votes, deputy prime minister Ararat Danielyan received four votes, vice-chairman of the Karabakh National Assembly Rudik Hyusnunts got two votes, while leader of the Communist party Hrant Melkumyan, leader of the “Moral Renaissance” party Murad Petrosyan and representative of the central commission of the ARF Artsakh branch Arthur Mosiyan all got one vote respectively.
Three people voted for Arkadi Ghukasyan in the “Other Candidates” section and one person voted for Samvel Babayan. Eleven people had difficulty answering the questions, while nine people believe that none of their mentioned political figures can be president: One person was of the opinion that all of the mentioned public/political figures can be president because there is not that big of a responsibility.