MEDIA IN THE TRANS-CAUCASUSINFLUENCE OF POLITICS AND MONEY THE Yasha Lange and Elizabeth Fuller Last year, elections were held in all three republics of the Trans-Caucausus. On 5 July 1995, the Armenian electorate voted in their country’s second parliamentary election and in a national referendum on a new constitution. On 5 November 1995, the population of Georgia chose a new president and a new parliament, in a rather unique combination of presidential and parliamentary elections. Finally, on 12 November 1995, the Azerbaijani voters elected a new parliament and cast their ballot in a referendum on a new constitution. The elections in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan were important events in a region recently troubled by ethnic conflicts, coups or rebellions. The strategic importance of the area at a cross-road between Europe, Central Asia, Russia and the Middle East and the ethnic composition caused instability in the past four years. Nevertheless, last year showed signs that the Trans-Caucasus may become more tranquil. The cease fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan persists, the upheavals in multi-ethnic ethnic Georgia are currently more or less under control. The population longs for stability and an improved economic situation. The outcome of the elections (the incumbents won in all three republics) illustrated this desire. Trans-Caucausus Developments in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan since the late 1980s show certain broad similarities. In all three countries, the emergence of a national movement had been heavily influenced by territorial conflict (i.e. the conflict between the Georgian leadership in Tbilisi and the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the struggle between the Azerbaijani leadership in Baku and the predominantly Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh). Although these conflicts predated the demise of the USSR, they have continued to overshadow domestic political developments since. For instance, two successive Azerbaijani presidents were used as scapegoats and then ousted from power because of military defeats in Nagorno Karabakh. Moreover, the conflicts have consumed a disproportionately large share of public funds, thus aggravating the economic decline that resulted from the severing of traditional ties with Russia. Indeed, economic collapse in Armenia and Georgia in 1993 1994 was so catastrophic that tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people emigrated in search of a better life in Russia or Europe. In addition, both Georgia and Azerbaijan have experienced the ouster of elected presidents (Georgia's Zviad Gamsakhurdia in January 1992; Azerbaijan’s Abulfaz Elchibey in June 1993) and the repression of his supporters by former Communist Party leaders currently governing as national democrats (Eduard Shevardnadze and Heidar Aliev). Despite these parallels, however, the domestic political situation, the conduct of the elections, the role of the media and the coverage of the elections in the media were unique and different in each country. Armenia had been the first union republic, in the summer of 1990, to elect a parliament in which the nascent national movement, rather than the Communist Party, had a majority. Levon Ter Petrossian, 6 OSCE ODIHR Bulletin Vol. 4 No. 3