2003 elections: Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan

On October 10-12, the seminar "Elections of 2003 in South Caucasian Countries and Their Impact on Regional Processes" took place in Tsakhkadzor. It was organized by the Yerevan Press Club (YPC) with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Its participants - representatives of Armenian media and public organizations actively involved in regional processes - discussed those changes in the South Caucasus that are already underway and still anticipated in different life spheres of the region after current year elections.

The urgency of the seminar may be accounted for by important inner political transformations underway in the region. Immediately after presidential and parliamentary elections in Armenia and presidential elections in Azerbaijan, a new legislative body of Georgia will be elected on November 2.

Khachatur Bezirjian, who has headed the Central Election Commission of Armenia for many years and now is advisor to the chairman of the Armenian Civil Service Council, spoke about the peculiarities of election campaign in Azerbaijan.

The presentation of Laura Bagdasarian, director of the "Region" Research Center of the Armenian Association of Investigative Journalists, was devoted to the impact of the coming elections in Georgia on the country's internal life.

President of the Armenian Center for Political and International Studies Aghasi Yenokian analyzed possible consequences of the elections in Armenia for its relations with neighboring countries.

Head of the non-government organization "European Integration" Karen Bekarian took up the elections of 2003 in the three South Caucasian countries through the prism of integration of the latter in Western European structures.

Aris Ghazinian, an observer of the "Golos Armenii" newspaper, offered an insight into Azerbaijan and Georgian election coverage by the Armenian press.

YPC President Boris Navasardian raised the issue of the impact the elections have on regional media activity. According to Boris Navasardian, the election campaigns in South Caucasian countries, against all expectations, do not serve as a stimulus for democratic development; on the contrary, they lead to restriction of civil freedoms, freedom of expression included.