On February 27, the Public Television of Armenia allocated 18 minutes 30 seconds to the topic of the constitutional referendum, 8 minute and 40 seconds of which were allocated to the supporters of the “NO” campaign, 4 minutes, 26 seconds to the “Yes” supporters and 5 minutes were neutral remarks. The Public TV also aired “YES” and “NO” campaign video clips of up to 1-minute duration each.
Elinar Vardanyan, representative of the “No” side of the campaign, touching upon the topic of the referendum (5 minutes 48 seconds), said that Armenia will become the target of international structures because of the process started. According to Mrs. Vardanyan, the already received reactions of the international structures will be followed by tougher ones, and after this round, the constitutionality of the referendum will become a subject of investigation by law enforcement agencies.
The representative of the “No” side of the campaign, Arsen Babayan’s statement was also presented during the news broadcast of Public TV. Referring to the news that the “No” propaganda party offered a bribe to the pensioners, he stated that he sent note on it to the police and urged the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia to accept the statement of Krist Hovsepyan as a crime report and take the necessary measures.
The Public Television of Armenia has made a report on the real creators of the “Yes” logo (3 minutes 21 seconds). The report addresses the “Yes” campaign, quotes the “Yes” campaign coordinator Suren Papikyan and notes that a number of “My Step” Alliance MPs have also spoken about the scandal over the logo. Conversely, the Public Television of Armenia did not make a report on the “NO” campaign headquarters. This is obviously political technology, which indirectly supports the “Yes” campaign.
