Recently, there are many rumors floating around about the possible nomination of Karabakh Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan for the upcoming Karabakh presidential elections. He is always the frontrunner in the surveys taken in Karabakh. Will Masis Mailyan participate in the presidential elections? In order to answer this question, KarabakhOpen asked Deputy Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Masis Mailyan, who in response mentioned that the Nagorno-Karabakh Constitution grants him the right to run in elections. He added that it is not excluded that there will be a decision made for him to be nominated as a result of public-supported political consultations with interested parties.
“As a non-partisan, I may expect a serious role in politics only if I am expected to play that role in the case of political dialogue and cooperation and if there is a public or political demand. Like it or not, I want and am ready to do whatever I can for my homeland,” said Mailyan.
With regards to the conducted surveys, he mentioned that he is very reserved concerning his being the frontrunner in the surveys and the fact that he is among the primary candidates. He said that he has a positive attitude towards the institute of surveys “because they try to build consensus and public opinion and they are first and foremost a basis for thoughts and analysis for each citizen.” The list of possible presidential candidates in the surveys, according to the deputy foreign minister, goes to show that there are very many developed and promising political activists in the state system, the political opposition, and the public sector and that that is proof of the gradual and consistent development of the political field of newly independent Nagorno-Karabakh.
Let us recall that the Nagorno-Karabakh presidential elections are scheduled to take place on July 19 and this has caused a ruckus in neighboring Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis are trying to do everything possible to not have the international community recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh presidential elections. They have also directed their concerns regarding the legitimacy of the elections to the OSCE Minsk co-presidents. Recently, French co-president Bernar Fassie responded to the concerns by saying that there may be changes in the Karabagh conflict negotiations process before the presidential elections in July. Fassie considered it too early to talk about the elections, explaining that the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers is still ahead and that some current obstacles of the conflict resolution may be resolved before the elections. Russian co-president Yuri Merzlyakov also didn’t comment on the elections and mentioned that there are more important issues to solve before the elections. It is unclear as to what obstacles Fassie is talking about. What is also unclear is what the changes in the conflict negotiations have to do with the presidential elections.
Regardless of the ruckus going on beyond Karabakh’s borders regarding the presidential elections, the people of Karabakh “are getting ready” for the elections. Now the political parties of Nagorno-Karabakh have started talking about possible negotiations concerning the forming of a unified candidate. The “Movement-‘88” political party administration declared its role concerning the upcoming presidential elections on April 6th. After analyzing the political developments connected with the presidential elections, particularly the public and political party discussions regarding the formation of a unified candidate, the “Movement-‘88” party administration has declared that it is ready to support the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections and gain public consent. The party also places emphasis on the need for political parties to come to terms on the Karabakh conflict settlement, the development of the country, rooting of the real levers of democracy, and the principles of the program securing social justice.
“Only after getting the political consent on the principles will it be profitable to discuss the implementation of those principles in order to provide effective aid for the nomination of the capable candidate. It is necessary to acquire the consents of political parties in order to guarantee the implementation of the main principles agreed on and the participation of the entire society in state governance and securing control on implementation of the principles,” as mentioned in the announcement.