On March 11, the Public Television of Armenia, operating at the expense of taxpayers, allocated 91 minutes 27 seconds to the topic of the constitutional referendum, 22 minute 22 seconds of which were allocated to the supporters of the “NO” campaign, 42 minutes to the “YES” supporters, 27 minutes 5 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, human rights defender Ruben Melikyan’s speech (12 minutes 20 seconds) was presented. Melikyan stated that the purpose of the referendum for the authorities is to control the judicial system. He also added: “What the authorities are trying to do today is to hinder and actually stop the operation of the constitutional bodies.”
During the news issue, a report was presented on the sit-down strike of the representatives of the All-Armenian National Consensus (3 minutes 30 seconds). Protesters consider April 5 referendum illegal, urging not to participate in it. The Republican Party in its turn has issued a statement (3 minutes 55 seconds) according to which they boycott the referendum and are not going to support any party. Former RPA MP Margarit Yesayan also noted: “I am neither for “YES ” nor for “NO”, but if the public is sober, it should go and say NO”.
During the news issue, the campaign of the “Yes” side was covered. Suren Papikyan stated in his speech (38 minutes 10 seconds) that today’s Constitutional Court is in the hands of the previous government. According to Lilit Makunts, judges have no right to be engaged in politics. The only duty of judges is to serve the citizen of the Republic of Armenia.
The guests of “Let’s Understand” program (30 minutes) were Daniel Ioannisyan, President of the Union of Informed Citizens, political scientist Vigen Hakobyan, Gor Hakobyan, a board member of the Citizens’ Decision party, human rights activist, Armenian National Congress (ANC) representative Armen Khachatryan, Head of the Foundation Against the Violation of Law Larisa Alaverdyan. Mainly neutral comments were presented during the program. Human rights activist, ANC representative Armen Khachatryan supported the ideas of the “YES” side of the campaign (2 minutes 40 seconds). He noted that there is a crisis in the Constitutional Court.
