The offer by the authorities to limit the number of journalists and observers at the polling station seems to me a nervous reaction to the reality that during the latest referendum, the number of video devices was unprecedentedly more, and the “main characters” ensuring the result of the referendum had to say too often, “hey, take your phone away,” “didn’t I tell you not to take photos”, after which the “characters” were appearing on the Internet.
I am trying to one way or another make one simple truth reaching the Armenian authorities of 25 years. If the media is in favor of political struggle, if the journalists are actually political activists or politicians, if instead of covering the event (including, the elections) they become their participants, there is nothing terrible in it. It is a manifestation of people’s civil activism, against which it is not possible to fight with prohibitions and restrictions, especially in today’s era of the Internet and social networks it is useless. Of course, it is desirable to have a certain boundary between journalism and non-journalism but hardly our authorities are concerned about it. I also do not think that the authorities should deal with it. It’s our, the journalists’ task, and we should achieve this goal with better work, thru educating the users and readers.
But all this has nothing to do with the restrictions of the draft proposed in the Electoral Code. Just imagine that this absurd paragraph is implemented. First of all, it would be possible to invest more of “your own” observers and journalists and to disallow “foreigners”. Secondly, if for example there were 8 observers, then there would be no journalist. Thirdly, in what frequency the journalists and observers standing in a queue will “take the duty”: once in 15 minutes, once in an hour or once in 3 hours. Fourth, whether the journalists and observers are going to stand one common queue outside of the polling station, or there are going to be two different queues. Plus the provision in the draft that the chairman of the precinct commission has the right to ask any person leave the polling station. For example, the observer says the “good guys” dressed in “sportswear”, “What a pack are you filling in the ballot box?” The chairman of the commission says to the observer, “You disturb the voting,” invites him to go out.
If the authorities really want the electoral process to become credible, then they should not go to absurd restrictions but, on the contrary, more liberalize the law. So far, the signs of it are not seen.
Read also
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
