From 21 to 31 January, 2020, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the President of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan’s personality and activities. 35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 564 articles were declared, 97 of which were negative, 12 were positive and 455 were neutral.
Many negative articles were declared on NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan. Most of the negative articles are related to the extraordinary session of the National Assembly convened on January 30 by Ararat Mirzoyan and the constitutional amendments discussed during that session.
The criticism was based on the fact that Ararat Mirzoyan canceled and postponed the session several times. Former Minister of Justice Davit Harutyunyan referred to the preliminary draft of the constitutional amendments to the law, saying: “This seemingly” primitive “legislative initiative, at first glance, has a clear and dangerous political purpose, that is the initiation of constitutional amendments, bypassing the Constitutional Court and the examination of the constitutionality of the amendments.”
According to media reports, the court returned Ararat Mirzoyan’s lawsuit against Narek Samsonyan because of the inaccuracies therein.
Narek Samsonyan addressed Ararat Mirzoyan writing the following: “According to undenied information, NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, on the occasion of the proclamation of the Artsakh Republic on September 2, with a 14-member delegation, ordered the most expensive meals and drinks in one of the local restaurants during his visit to Artsakh. The dinner bill was about 2 million drams, which was paid from the state budget.”
Edmon Marukyan, in his turn, is dissatisfied with the work of Ararat Mirzoyan. According to Marukyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly is not impartial and represents only “My step” alliance, not the whole National Assembly.
“Media Advocate” Initiative has not yet summed up the media coverage of the February 6 discussion in the National Assembly. You can read the article related to that topic in our future references.
