During the upcoming presidential elections to be held in Nagorno Karabakh on July 19, the main struggle will ensue between the Head of the National Security Services of Karabakh Bako Sahakyan and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Masis Mayilyan, reported News Armenia, citing the Deputy Director of the Caucasus Media Institute Sergey Minasyan. “Among the registered five candidates, there are only two realistic candidates at the Karabakh elections – Sahakyan and Mayilyan. I do not think that any candidate can be characterized as an artificially created alternative in order to disseminate the perception of a democratic election process. However, [Sahakyan] has larger administrative resources,” the news source cited Minasyan as saying.

Meanwhile, as reported by A1 Plus information agency, according to a survey conducted by sociologist Aharon Adibekyan in early July, 60 percent of Nagorno Karabakh’s population will be voting for Bako Sahakyan, while only 4.5 percent plan to vote for his main rival, Mayilyan.

This information was originally published July 6 and 9, 2007 (www.newsarmenia.ru and www.a1plus.am) .