Gagik Baghunts, acting speaker of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly (NA), issued a statement Friday announcing that a special NA session will be convened Saturday on the matter of the election of the new President of Artsakh.

The statement notes that that the NA "Free Motherland-UCA", "Justice", "Armenian Revolutionary Federation", and "Democratic Party of Artsakh" Factions have nominated Minister of State Samvel Shahramanyan as their candidate for the new President of Artsakh, whereas the "United Motherland" Faction has nominated Artsakh Defense Army former commander and former Security Council secretary Samvel Babayan.

However, the "United Motherland" Faction's application to nominate Babayan as a candidate for Artsakh President and the respective attached documents were returned due to not submitting the document attesting to Babayan being an Artsakh citizen only in the last ten years and permanently living in Artsakh in the last ten years.

A special session of the National Assembly will be convened Saturday on the matter of the election of the new President of Artsakh.