It turns out that the posters that are seen at each step in the city, most of which are representing the Armenian Republican Party, are not considered to be campaign material.
This interpretation was made yesterday by RA Justice minister David Harutyunyan. He also said that in many countries such posters are not considered to be a campaign material unless it is clearly written on them to go and vote for some certain parties.
If it is so, we wonder what the purpose is of attaching so many posters in streets. Do they do this to make it enjoyable for the citizens to see beautiful flags? For instance, you may open your window and enjoy the view of the lines of white flags hanging in the streets. If the purpose is this, why didn’t they do it before? No one could answer this question clearly.
Generally, during David Harutyunyan’s press conference, many questions remained without an adequate answer. Journalists asked the minister whether the fact that the prime minister’s official visits to the regions were followed by campaigning in favor of the ARP did not mean misuse of the official position for campaigning purposes, and were in violation of the law. Certainly, he believes it is not. Generally, he thinks that “the person’s official position isn’t being used during these visits”. In order to make it clear, the minister asked the question whether he was speaking during the press conference as a minister or as a party member.
For instance, if Mr. Harutyunyan is speaking only about electoral processes, it seems to be normal and he can freely campaign. But if he is speaking as the Minister of Justice during the same press conference and answering a question concerning the legal system, it may turn out that he is campaigning, by misusing his official position. In a word, it is difficult to come to a correct conclusion over this issue. Maybe it is possible to agree with what Mr. Harutyunyan said, but questions arise as to why the Electoral Code exists and why the provision forbidding campaigning on the part of state officials was adopted. This question was not clarified.
Instead of that, it was mentioned that our legislation has some shortcomings in terms of prohibiting electoral bribery. Our legislation provides that it is prohibited to distribute electoral bribes, but under some certain circumstances it is not clear whether some specific actions are covered by that law or not. The minister gave these examples concerning pre-election promises and warranties. For instance, which one of the following two kinds of promises look more like an electoral bribe: “according to my pre-election program you will get free medical treatment” or “I will cover your medical treatment expenses”? Mr. Harutyunyan thinks that there isn’t any exact precedent to refer to, and suggests organizing discussions on that issue.
Harutyunyan assures that he is against distributing electoral bribes. He is also against the people that are obliging others to get membership in their parties and take part in their rallies. Furthermore, he assures that their party had not ever done such things and also they are strictly against obliging people to participate in their actions. It is worth mentioning that the decisive and key factor here is not the orientation against or in favor of any parties, but the Constitution, which does not allow anyone to oblige people to do anything.
However, the Minister of Justice does not refute the fact that there are violations, but he says there are always small violations before elections. On the one hand, he considers this fact as normal, but on the other hand, these violations are creating grounds for the opposition to protest on May 13. Besides the opposition, coalition member ARF has numerously said that in case of electoral violations they will be among the first parties to protest.
May the ARP announce that they will protest in case of violations too? “We will not go out into streets to protest,” said the minister. The reason is, he says, is that they will not allow any violations to take place.
As for the standing of ARF and the others, he says he considers such announcements before elections as normal, as each party has a specific method on how to operate. It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that the ARF was a coalition partner for the ARP, the ARF leaders have numerously said and also have written in their brochures that they would be able to do many things if they were the majority in the parliament. It means that they wanted to do things, but couldn’t. We wonder whether the ARP and ARF will form a coalition again if they are elected into the parliament again. Will the ARP agree to be a partner of the ARF after its criticisms, or will the ARF agree to stay in the parliament and be limited in its actions? It is surprising that ARP member David Harutyunyan relates to this issue in a relaxed manner. “If the ARF attributes the positive things to them and the negative things to others, it means it is a part of the pre-election campaign. Every normal person understands what is happening. This is the reason why we relate to it quietly. I am sure about one thing: we are the one that is responsible both for positive and negative things. Thus, we are responsible for the negative things too. We are taking that responsibility since we are ready to move forward and correct those mistakes,” said Mr. Harutyunyan.