By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia kicked off its presidential election campaign on Tuesday with a lottery to determine the order in which candidates would receive television and radio time. Eleven candidates, including incumbent Robert Kocharian, will be on the Feb. 19 ballot.
Armenia kicked off its presidential election campaign on Tuesday with a lottery to determine the order in which candidates would receive television and radio time. Eleven candidates, including incumbent Robert Kocharian, will be on the Feb. 19 ballot. Each candidate will receive 60 minutes of free and 120 minutes of paid airtime on television, and 120 minutes of free and 180 minutes of paid airtime on radio. They will also be able to run ads that take up a quarter page or less in state newspapers, the Central Election Committee said. Kocharian presented his campaign platform on Tuesday, pledging to deepen relations with Russia, the United States and the European Union. He said he would also work toward international recognition of the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, and a permanent solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian forces drove Azerbaijani fighters out of Nagorno-Karabakh and a 1994 cease-fire has largely held. However, Armenia and Azerbaijan have yet to reach a final settlement over the enclave, which is populated primarily by Armenians but located within Azerbaijan. (AP)