A clear example of the misuse of administrative resources is the coverage of the actions of only one of the candidates in the context of the Yerevan Council of Elders elections, Tigran Avinyan, the deputy mayor of Yerevan, the declared candidate for mayor by the Civil Contract Party, the “Independent Observer” bloc noted, detailing, “Tigran Avinyan’s activities since the appointment of the deputy mayor of Yerevan coverage volumes have increased and many times exceeded the volume of coverage of the activities of other representatives of the community government.”
During Aravot’s “Confrontation” program, Suren Grigoryan, deputy mayor of Yerevan, number 5 on the list of the “Civil Contract” party, specifically said in this regard that one cannot be accused of abuse of administrative resources without specifying which provision of the “Electoral Code” be violated. “The activity is covered. What is it defined as when it is said that there was more? Mr. Avinyan’s areas of coordination involve more coverage and more tours than my areas of coordination. Moreover, since Mr. Avinyan and the “Civil Contract” party announced a long time ago that he will be a candidate for mayor in the upcoming council elections, he has already drawn the attention of the press in his direction.”
Mesrop Arakelyan, co-founder of the “Country to Live” party, number 2 on the list of “Country to Live”- “Aprelu Yerkir” in the Yerevan Council of Elders elections, agreed with the assessment of the “Akanates” obersvation mission that, as a result of the problematic use of administrative resources, “an unequal competitive environment has been formed, and, at least in terms of public visibility, the candidate of the ruling political force got an obvious advantage.” About equal coverage before the campaign, he added that the ruling party should not use the gap in the law as a basis for abuse of administrative resources. “And the ruling party, which has repeatedly complained about the behavior of the former authorities, should be the first to try to provide equal opportunities.”
Suren Grigoryan responded to Mesrop Arakelyan’s last observation. “Honestly, I don’t remember that we complained about it (he clarified a little later: “too much coverage of the activity”: A.I.).”
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And added: “Government activities are always more covered, at all times. The press is always focused more on covering the activities of the government than the activities of the opposition. You have assumed power in some communities; you can see it through experience.” However, Mesrop Arakelyan objected. “Unfortunately, there is almost no coverage by the state media.”
By the way, “Eyewitness” also noted that before the start of the official campaign, materials were seen being distributed, “which, although not prohibited by law, contribute to the distortion of the competitive field.” In this series, the posters with the title “Your Capital, the pictures of Mane Tandilyan, the poster with the slogan “Artsakh will live,” and the film “Mrs. Minister” were particularly mentioned.
The co-founder of “Country to Live” insisted that neither the series nor the “Artsakh will live” poster has anything to do with the party. “I don’t think that the word “living” is the copyright of our party, and its use should not be associated with us at all.” And regarding the rest of the informative materials, he mentioned that they did not do their propaganda with public means; that’s the difference.
Meanwhile, studying the allocations made to the Yerevan Municipality from the 2019-2023 state budgets, “Akanates” obersvation mission found out that “in the spring of 2023, the R.A. government increased the financing of the Yerevan Municipality by more than 100%, from about 10 billion drams to about 20.6 billion.” It is problematic when, according to reports on the implementation of the R.A. state budget, in 2020-2022, the R.A. government reduced the allocations made by the National Assembly to Yerevan Municipality from the state budget (in 2020: 433.5 million, in 2021: 1,778.3 million, and in 2022 with AMD 369.4 million).
This circumstance gives reason to assume that the additional allocation was made to direct public sympathy in favor of the ruling political force in the Yerevan Council of Elders elections and to ensure a competitive advantage for it.”
“Thus, any expenditure of public funds that is directed to the solution of some problem can be considered as done to increase sympathy,” said the deputy mayor of Yerevan. The government manages state funds, yes, not its funds, but directs these funds to solve some problems. Shouldn’t it fix it, won’t it do that job? I want to understand.”
Mesrop Arakelyan asked, “Did the government know at that time that the elevators had to be replaced? Didn’t they know last year?” If we make asphalt, will the government give it, as it gave it to the Yerevan Municipality?”
The entire debate in the video
Anna ISRAYELYAN
