Competition for candidates for Parliament starts - NA speaker 

ArmInfo.  All those who try to threaten the representatives of the current government will bang their heads against the wall. This was stated by the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan at the plenary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on April 21, responding to the speech of the deputy from the opposition faction "Armenia", the representative of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" party Gegham Manukyan.

In his speech Manukyan sharply criticized the policy of the current  authorities, as a result of which Artsakh was depopulated, part of  the territory of Armenia was occupied, and now the process is  continuing, which is aimed at even greater concessions to neighboring states.

In response, the speaker noted that this very party, whose activities  in 1918-1920 led to the loss of statehood. "After all the murders,  robberies, falsification of election results, the events of October  27, 1999 and March 1, 2008, the people came out of this nightmare.  Then came the epidemic, during which Azerbaijan and Turkey together  with Pakistan, together comprising over 100 million people, attacked Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia. In this situation, a number of servicemen began to spread mutually exclusive comments. Against this background, the young government tried to find ways to solve the problem. At the same time, a "fifth column" was launched inside the country, which, under patriotic slogans, attempted to destroy the state from within, setting itself the elimination of statehood," the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia said.

However, Simonyan continued, despite all this, the wise people again cast their votes for the current government in 2021. He believes that the opposition itself does not want to take over power because it does not need it, since it is associated with responsibility. "When you come to power, what will you do? Blame us? The people will not believe you, because they witnessed the events that took place. Your goal is clear to everyone: to come back to parliament based on the results of new elections. But the people will not elect you again, they can elect third parties, but not you. You have found yourself in a difficult political impasse.  The competition for the selection of new candidates for the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has begun," the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia said.

The spat between Simonyan and Manukyan began during the discussions of the report on the work of the Armenian Television and Radio Commission in 2024. Earlier, while presenting the document, the head of the commission Tigran Hakobyan noted that as of December 31, 2024, there were 102 licensed companies, 41 audiovisual media service providers and 61 network operators operating in the country. During the same period, 54 authorized companies operated. 3 audiovisual and 4 audio programs of the public broadcaster were broadcast without a license, and 4 audiovisual and 1 audio program were broadcast on the basis of international agreements.

The Chairman of the Commission emphasized that the audiovisual media in Armenia are free and independent, given the relationship between the state and the media. There were no complaints from audiovisual service providers in 2024. This concerns the relations between the state and the media or various branches of government and political forces and relations with the media. According to Tigran Hakobyan, since the commission does not have the opportunity to monitor the relations between media owners and funding forces, there is no information on this issue from the point of view of freedom of information. According to the Chairman of the Commission, in 2024, the regulatory body acted transparently, freely and accountable to society. He added that the authorities are committed to the principles they have adopted and do not interfere with the activities of the commission. Hakobyan noted that modern information flows, information chaos on social platforms create threats to the information security of Armenia, the spiritual and physical health of people, and limit the information and linguistic sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia. It was noted that the legislation regulating the activities of the media does not meet these changes. According to the speaker, in order to solve the problems, it is necessary to harmonize the mechanisms of legislative regulation of broadcasters' activities. Tigran Hakobyan also raised the issue of creating a digital public multiplex, noting that in order for TV companies to have quality content, it is time to discuss the issue of reducing the number of slots. The establishment of the "Publicly Useful Media Environment" fund by the decision of the government was mentioned, which will be managed by a board of trustees. It will be used to create socially useful content in Armenia. The chairman of the commission emphasized the importance of strict regulation of the broadcasting of foreign TV programs. According to him, legislative amendments are needed that would exclude the broadcasting of political programs of other countries on state multiplexes, with the exception of television programs of a public nature. Particular attention was paid to ensuring transparency of financing, combating incitement to hatred and disinformation.