As of now, solely one candidate for the President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been nominated, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Artsakh National Assembly (NA).

Discussions are currently underway regarding the presidential election procedure at the NA, and the latter will release a statement in this regard.

Today is the last day to nominate candidates.

As reported earlier, the candidate for the new Artsakh President of four of the five forces in the Artsakh NA is Samvel Shahramanyan, who was appointed Minister of State a few days ago.

Those forces are the opposition ARF, National Democratic, and Justice Factions, as well as the ruling Free Homeland-UCA Faction.

The first round of the NA elections for the new Artsakh President will take place on Saturday. The Artsakh NA speaker on Friday will make a statement regarding the appointment of the day of the respective NA session.

The second largest force in the Artsakh NA, the United Homeland Faction led by Samvel Babayan, however, has decided not to participate in the parliamentary voting for the new president. And they plan to hold a demonstration in capital Stepanakert on the day of the presidential election in the NA.

Arayik Harutyunyan submitted his resignation from the post of Artsakh President on September 1. Also, Minister of State Gurgen Nersisyan was relieved of his post, and Samvel Shahramanyan was appointed to that position, being relieved of the post of Secretary of the Artsakh Security Council.