From now on, citizens of Karabakh will no longer see the line reading “I am against everybody” when they cast their ballots during elections. This and other amendments of the Karabakh Electoral Code have been approved during the April 25 session of the Karabakh National Assembly. After the first approval of the bill, ten proposals were made to the National Assembly’s State/Legal Issues Committee, of which nine have been approved by the authors of the bill.
The vote with the new ballots is coming up soon. Citizens of Karabakh will vote for a new president on July 19. As for now, there are three presidential candidates, including head of the National Security Service of Karabakh Bako Sahakyan, professor of Artsakh State University Vanya Avanesyan, and president of the Communist Party of Karabakh, Hrant Melkumyan.
On the threshold of the presidential elections, there have been amendments made to the law on the “Securing of Services, Salary, and Security of the President of Karabakh” whereby the president is provided with a residency in Stepanakert, a private home, a state villa and government vehicles and services. The president leaving office will be given a private home and, if desired, security. He will also have the opportunity to go out of the country two times a year. For the time being, the political parties of Karabakh have not discussed which candidates they prefer for the presidential elections, except the Communist Party, which has nominated its own candidate, and the “Free Homeland” party, which has announced that it will support Bako Sahakyan. The other three parties in parliament, including Artsakh’s democratic “Movement-‘88” parties and the ARF, are not talking about presidential candidates. The non-parliamentary parties are still passive. It is only known that the “Social Justice” party will not support the candidates nominated by the Communist Party and the ARF.
The only thing left to do is to wait until the end of nominations, in other words, May 5. The Central Electoral Commission of Karabakh told “168 Hours” that the two initiating groups and one political party have already been registered. The registration of the presidential candidates will take place between May 30 and June 9.