Public TV operating at the expense of taxpayers censored the pre-election campaign videos provided by the “I Have Honor” alliance and refused to broadcast them. Such a step should be described as obvious and evident discrimination against an opposition political force. In this way, Public TV restricts the political force from the freedom of speech.
According to Armen Ashotyan, the representative of the abovementioned alliance, Public TV rejected the first video as an insult and the second one as a slander. These classifications are surprising because Public TV itself gives legal and political assessments to campaign materials and in the case of the ruling force, Public TV broadcasts videos with harsher vocabulary, explicit swearing and baseless accusations.
After the illegal step, Public TV tries to initiate an attack, announcing that it is subjected to political pressure, while it is Public TV that makes the political decisions, reserves the right not to broadcast this or that campaign video.
It is worth mentioning that in the framework of the current Electoral Code, no such actions were registered during the 2017 and 2018 parliamentary elections.
We demand from the Commission on TV and Radio of RA to take appropriate actions regarding the television under its control and ensure the broadcasting of the campaign videos of the “I Have Honor” alliance.
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The Electoral Rights Watch