“The presidential elections in Artsakh will be the election of the president by the NA. These are transitional phase elections”, said NKR President’s spokesman David Babayan. Mr. Babayan was reminded about the concerns related to the re-election of Bako Sahakyan and the ensuing consequences.
On this occasion, Mr. Babayan clarified that there were constitutional reforms, a constitutional referendum, and then there was a clash of ideas and different approaches, “Even now there are those approaches, there are parties that support, there are political powers that don’t support, and powers that support in case of some terms. This is a natural phenomenon, and in this respect, I do not see any danger”.
Mr. Babayan said that this is a transitional phase: there has been an open and transparent constitutional referendum, and this is just the final part that opens the transitional phase. After that, nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in 2020.
In response to the question, whether there are prerequisites to hold free and democratic elections in Artsakh now, Mr. Babayan said, “Of course, there are. Who has told there are not? The NA votes for these elections. Before that, there was a constitutional referendum, and there was no observer who reported about any violations. Now there are also democratic debates underway. Everyone expresses their opinion both here and in Artsakh. Isn’t this democracy? Is anyone persecuted for own views? The constitutional referendum took place, shouldn’t we be done with the process?”.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
