Daniel Ionnisyan doesn’t agree with the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) made yesterday.
Yesterday the CEC rejected the report of the Hello Yerevan Coalition on the campaign violations committed by the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), and the Rule of Law Party (RLP). Commenting on the CEC’s decision during a conversation with www.aravot.am, Daniel Ionnisyan, a member of the Hello Yerevan Coalition that had made the report, said that the CEC had found violations, but it had refused to hold the offenders accountable in accordance with the law. In Daniel’s words, “The Administrative Offenses Code clearly provides for responsibility for hanging, for example, the PAP campaign poster exceeding 6m² on the building of the Hayrenik cinema. I didn’t get an answer from the CEC to the question why they hadn’t fined the PAP.” With regard to the violations of the RPA that had pasted posters in wrong places, proof was put forward at the CEC meeting that those have already been taken off. For example, Taron Margaryan’s campaign placards have been taken off the shops on Tarunts Street; those have also been taken off the building of the Northern University. “They showed me a video, in which the posters were already gone; they told me that even if they had been there, the violation had already been neutralized.” The report on violations made by Daniel Ionnisyan stated that on a building at 30 Shiraz Street, there was a PAP campaign poster. According to Daniel Ionnisyan, “Members of the CEC had gone and filmed three walls, but they hadn’t filmed the one, on which the picture was. Those who filmed probably didn’t know that a building has 4 walls, not 3.” As for the encroachments on the rights of the Hello Yerevan Coalition
candidates, Armen Martirosyan, in particular, the CEC said that they were not entitled to investigate that. There was a violation at 51 Komitas Street too. According to Hello Yerevan, the campaign posters of Taron Margaryan and the RPA exceed 6m², and there is no mark about publication. “I don’t know how they have managed to measure and get a number less than 6, according to my measurement, they are 7. I will measure them once again and film it,” Daniel Ionnisyan said. After recording all these violations and getting the rejection of the CEC, Daniel Ionnisyan intends to take a legal action in court. He is going to appeal the decision on the fact of the city hall’s handing out postcards and flowers on April 7 in support of Taron Margaryan’s campaign, in particular, about which there is a video. In Daniel’s words, “Now they are deciding whether we will challenge it in a court of law or not, because there also is a time issue. In any case, I think that I will take an action in the administrative court regarding this issue.” Examining that video of April 7, the CEC found that it could not be equaled to campaigning and described that report as groundless. The CEC also didn’t consider the video, in which kindergarten children’s parents are forced to go to Taron Margaryan’s meeting, as grounds for holding someone accountable, finding that there was nothing there that constituted an offense. One of the most interesting violations among the foregoing was related to the employee of the Kentron Landscaping. In the video, one can clearly see that employee paste Taron Margaryan’s campaign posters in broad daylight, at his working hours. According to Hello Yerevan, it is a striking example of using the administrative resource. However, Tigran Mukuchyan said in this case that they had asked the Kentron Landscaping to explain, and the management of the latter had informed that they hadn’t made anyone do anything. The employee had been undisciplined and had done it on his own initiative. So there was just a violation of work discipline committed by the employee. Daniel Ionnisyan stressed: “The OSCE has said many times that there is blurred distinction between the state and the ruling party. We see such a thing here.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
