As is known, starting from June 20 the campaign for president has been launched in Karabakh. Starting from the first day, numerous meetings and rallies have been held in different areas of Karabakh.
On the first day, all five candidates had an opportunity for an appearance on public Karabakh TV and Radio. Only three of the five had appearances – Masis Mayilyan, Vanya Avanesyan and Hrant Melkumyan. As to the two others – Bako Sahakyan and Armen Abgaryan – only ads were shown. During his broadcast on Artsakh Public TV, an Artsakh State University professor, Vanya Avanesyan, said that the most actual issue of nowadays is the social condition of people. For that reason, he pledges to fight against corruption and abuse of power. He also said that he’s going to restore justice and fairness in all the regions of the repubic. The other presidential candidate, Masis Mayilyan, said that it’s necessary to recover the people’s moral-psychological state and ensure that people participate in the political and public life of the country. According to him, the main provisions of his platform are “everybody is equal to the law”, and that the rule of law must dominate. “Not the small part of the society must live well, but the whole society. On the other hand, another important thing is the international recognition of Artsakh and providing for its worthy position in the world,” he said.
Presidential candidate Hrant Melkumyan emphasized social justice and equality, rule of law, protection of human rights, and international recognition of NKR. As Head of the Central Election Committee, Sergey Nasibyan, said that each candidate is allowed to use to 30 minutes of free time and up to 80 minutes of paid time, according to the Election Code. Unbiased and assessment-free information regarding the campaign the candidate carries out should be used in the news programs of the public TV and Radio. The election campaign may be carried out via mass media by the organization of pre-electoral meetings with voters, public pre-electoral debates, discussions, processions, and demonstrations, via the publication of printed materials and dissemination of audio and video materials. Melkumyan said over the airtime of Karabakh public TV and radio, when presenting the main points of his election program, that the following were his political principles: social justice and equality, real democracy, the protection of human rights and freedom, and international recognition of the Nagorny Karabakh Republic.
While the candidates are busy campaigning, the CEC of Karabakh continues its preparation activities. According to the CEC, at present 10 international and 34 local journalists, and one international and seven local monitors were registered.