Yesterday in Armavir, Nikol Pashinyan Used Administrative Resources to Gain Competitive Advantage in Elections - Daniel Ioannisyan

Daniel Ioannisyan, the president of the 'Informed Citizens' NGO, wrote on his Facebook page: 'Yesterday in the Armavir region, Nikol Pashinyan used administrative resources to gain a competitive advantage in the elections. The important aspect here was not only (not so much) that Pashinyan's de facto pre-election trip was de jure official, but also that the speeches were intertwined with actions stemming from official powers.

For instance, together with Minister Papikyan, informing citizens that a decision had been made to renovate the asphalt at the state's expense was entirely an action stemming from official powers, which was used locally to gain a competitive advantage in the elections... After all, the opposition cannot say during their campaign, 'we just decided to pave the asphalt for you.'

In other words, the official position was used to gain competitive advantage. This is unacceptable and constitutes a clear abuse of administrative resources (there can also be covert abuse). Officials must refrain from the overlap of pre-election propaganda and the exercise of official powers.

P.S. This also contradicts the logic laid out in the proposed amendments to the Electoral Code (although the draft only prohibits this during the campaign period). And for this reason, I say that the ruling party must have the political will to accept regulations regarding administrative resources in the Electoral Code.'