ArmInfo.During his visit to Gegharkunik region, the Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was involved in election campaigning, which, according to all accepted international canons, is a gross abuse of administrative resources. This is stated in the statement of the Republican Party of Armenia, received by ArmInfo.
The authors of the statement, in particular, refer to the "Joint guidelines on preventing and responding to abuses of administrative resources during the electoral process" adopted by the OSCE / ODIHR and the Venice Commission in 2016. "According to this document, abuses of administrative resources were used by some parties or candidates for their position in society to gain an unjustified advantage, as well as to influence the election results."
The 2013 report of the Venice Commission on "Abuse of administrative resources during electoral processes", as well as in the above principles, states: "The election period is a wider period of time than specified in the national electoral legislation". It also includes the period of registration of parties and candidates, the RPA statement says. In this document, as examples of the abuse of administrative resources, the use of official events for propaganda purposes, or the use of institutional resources is noted.
The RPA notes that Nikol Pashinyan carried out election campaigning while performing official duties during his working visit using institutional resources. We are calling for. Prime Minister to observe all those canons that are fixed in international documents and ensure equal opportunities for all parties, "the RPA statement says.
To note, today in the Armenian parliament, in an interview with journalists, RPA MP Armen Ashotyan also noted that Nikol Pashinyan is abusing the administrative resource. "We do not argue that the acting Prime Minister has the full right to visit the regions of Armenia, moreover, this is his direct responsibility. However, he should not abuse administrative resources and carry out obvious agitation", Ashotyan concluded.