“Media Advocate” Initiative continues series of meetings within the framework of its observation mission of the April 5 referendum on amendments to the RA Constitution.
This time “Media Advocate” met with Artsvik Minasyan, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Body of Armenia. Issues related to campaign and the forthcoming referendum were discussed. Artsvik Minasyan presented the ARF’s position, according to which the referendum was appointed with gross violations of the Constitution. On the other hand, due to its votes in the legislature, the political power has actually forced to hold the referendum on April 5, which in fact assumes that voters should express their point. They have stated about their commitment to undertake actions against “YES”, that is against the referendum. The most important of the actions is the appeal and explanation to the voters not to go to the polls, as the referendum is illegal. On the other hand, there are many people who have to participate in the referendum, such as public servants, servicemen and so on. They are urged to either vote “NO” or invalidate their ballot. When presenting these approaches, they also make use of the opportunities provided by the platform of the “NO” campaign. Considering the propaganda tactics adopted by the political authorities, including the propaganda of obviously false, wrong, and non-referendum issues, it is likely that these violations are not the end and they may be followed by the falsification of illegally conducted referendum results by means of controlled voting as well as the distortion of voting results in the counting process. Therefore, the ARF has expressed its support for the “NO” propaganda party. While ARF representatives will not be present in all polling stations, in a number of them where they have confidants, they will cooperate with “NO” to help prevent and record violations on the Referendum Day. Artsvik Minasyan noted that the campaign is being conducted in the context of a revolution, that is with the “black and white”, “old and new” logic, which does not correspond to the content of the issue put to a referendum, as well as undermines the concept of the referendum and the notion of it, and in fact, shifts the issue to the emotional context trying to resemble it to the highly emotional background of 2018. The sides also exchanged views on economic and security developments in Armenia. An agreement was reached to cooperate both during the campaign and on the Referendum Day in order to identify and report any election fraud.
