RPA: Nikol Pashinyan is abusing administrative resources

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.