Artsakh Parliament Members in Search of a Candidate Again

The newspaper "Hraparak" writes: "As a result of effective pressure from the Armenian authorities, the former president of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan, has refused to run for the presidency of Artsakh, and the deadlines set for the presidential election have been missed; May 31 was the final deadline, as the term of office for the president expired on May 21. After that, a candidate was supposed to be nominated within a 7-day period, followed by a parliamentary session within another three days to elect a president.

However, we have been informed that for more than a week, lawyers from Artsakh have been thoroughly examining both the Constitution and the relevant legislation and have concluded that, according to the current legal regulations, each missed deadline is followed by another 7-day period, as long as the Artsakh Parliament has not yet held an election.

Therefore, the parliamentarians are once again in search of a candidate. It is true that they have distanced themselves from Shahramanyan, as he has been directly warned by the government system that any process occurring in Syunik after his election will be "broken" not only on his shoulders but also on the shoulders of all Artsakhtsis. We note that the one delivering the government threats is the head of the National Security Service, Armen Abazyan."