By empty (7/9/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Jan Kubis met in Tskhinvali, the capital of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, on 9 July with President Eduard Kokoyty and Emergency Situations Minister Boris Chochiev. Kokoyty said he fears Tbilisi is planning to deploy the crack forces trained by the United States within the parameters of the Train and Equip program against his breakaway republic. He also accused Georgia of failing to allocate $800,000 it has pledged for the restoration of South Ossetia\'s economy.

By empty (7/9/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Meeting on 9 July, the Central Election Commission (CEC) formally registered three more presidential candidates, raising the total number to 15. The three are Abutalyb Samedov, chairman of the pro-government Alliance in the Name of Azerbaijan; Elshad Musaev, who was nominated by the Great Azerbaijan group of voters; and Hafiz Hadjiev, head of the Modern Musavat party. Musaev\'s application was initially rejected.

By empty (7/8/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The opposition Artarutiun election bloc will appeal the official results of the 25 May parliamentary election in the European Court of Human Rights, Artak Zeynalian, a leading member of the Hanrapetutiun party, told journalists in Yerevan on 9 July. On 7 July, the Armenian Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by Artarutiun to annul the results of the party-list vote. Artarutiun claimed that the official results were falsified to give the bloc only 14 percent of the party-list vote, whereas in fact it garnered over 50 percent of the party-list vote.