On March 5, the Public Television of Armenia, operating at the expense of taxpayers, allocated 2 minutes 15 seconds to the topic of the constitutional referendum, 1 minute 10 seconds of which were allocated to the supporters of the “NO” campaign, 1 minutes 5 seconds to the “YES” supporters: no neutral remarks were presented. The Public TV also aired “YES” and “NO” campaign video clips of up to 1-minute duration each.
The Public Television of Armenia did not refer to Suren Papikyan’s speech in the National Assembly and the response of NA MP, “Bright Armenia” party member Gevorg Gorgisyan. According to Gorgisyan, Suren Papikyan violated the constitutional order and carried out a “Yes” campaign from the NA platform when performing his official duties. Arsen Babayan, a lawyer, representative of the “No” side of the campaign made a statement on his Facebook page regarding this issue: “The possible “explanation” that the fact occurred after 6 PM, therefore, that the propaganda was permissible, is completely ungrounded, because if the person is present there and is actually performing his duties (as an official), as it was done in this case, the day or the hour does not make any difference.” Arsen Babayan had a telephone conversation with Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Chairman Tigran Mukuchyan. According to Babayan, the CEC chairman informed that they are following the cases of the apparent violations, moreover necessary actions have already been taken.
