On March 3, the Public Television of Armenia, operating at the expense of taxpayers, allocated 11 minutes 20 seconds to the topic of the constitutional referendum, 3 minute 45 seconds of which were allocated to the supporters of the “NO” campaign, 2 minutes to the “YES” supporters and 5 minutes 35 seconds were neutral remarks. The Public TV also aired “YES” and “NO” campaign video clips of up to 1-minute duration each.
During the news issue reference was made to the Facebook post and announcements of human rights defender Ruben Melikyan (2 minutes 40 seconds). Ruben Melikyan stated that these elections should satisfy “No”, “Yes” and “Boycott” supporters at the same time. Melikyan also noted that the members of the commission are not only party members; among them one may find interested citizens who have expressed willingness to participate in the process. Melikyan added that he would soon start recruiting of confidants. The human rights defender said: “We offered the citizens, asked them to submit applications, so as we consider their inclusion in the committees. We received about 1000 applications. From the very beginning the Bright Armenia Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) shared information with us, then the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) as well. ”
NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan received Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe and his delegation. In his speech the NA Speaker tried to justify the decision of the political force to initiate Constitutional amendments (48 seconds).
