Three candidates will be running for presidency in the July 19 presidential election in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) – Bako Sahakyan, Vitaly Balasanyan and Arkady Soghomonyan.

The fourth candidate, Valery Khachatryan, pulled out from the presidential race.

Talking to Tert.am, Khachatryan explained the reasons. “My aim was to win the election because I had the necessary basis for a victory and further activities. I worked in the Legislature and Executive for about 35 years. But I saw that the incumbent president has much higher chances and had to withdraw from the campaign,” he said.

Khachatryan is now supporting incumbent President Bako Sahakyan as the people trust him.

“Since the incumbent president can show the results of his 5-year activities, the people admit that he has done tremendous work,” Khachatryan said.

He believes that the incumbent president will win the election.