RA CEC chairman: Failure to register political force would be abuse  of authority by CEC 

ArmInfo. Chairman of the Central Election Commission Vahagn Hovakimyan does not believe that RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is using administrative resources.

Responding to journalists' question on April 17 about whether the  prime minister's instructions to certain bodies should be considered  in addressing the issues citizens raise with him during meetings with  voters, which is prohibited by law because it could be considered  charity, Vahagn Hovakimyan noted that there are no problems in this  case. People approach the prime minister, and he refers them to the  appropriate authority. "People often approach me on the streets with  various requests, and I recommend that they contact one or another  authority," the CEC Chairman said. It would be a different matter, as  the head of the Central Election Commission noted, if promises to  solve existing problems in exchange for votes were made during these  meetings. All promises must be presented in the election platform,  and anything outside the platform is subject to criminal prosecution.

The head of the Central Election Commission also denied rumors about  the possibility of disqualifying a political party from the  elections. He noted that criminal cases may be brought against  individual citizens of a given party, but the issue of parties is not  resolved under the Criminal Code, since parties' activities are  defined by the law on parties. Failure to register a political party  by the Central Election Commission would constitute abuse of power on  the part of the Commission itself, with all the ensuing consequences.   Registration may be denied if there are any problems with the  submitted registration documents. However, even in this case, the  Commission is entitled to correct the deficiencies within 48 hours.