Independent Observer to Appeal to Prosecutor's Office Over CP Campaigning

The coordinator of the Independent Citizen Movement, Daniel Ioannisian, made a Facebook post stating that FIP.am, the "Fact-Checking Platform", with the support of the "Independent Observer" team, has uncovered through secret recordings that employees of the Kanaker-Zeytun administrative district stuck campaign posters of the Civil Contract party (and its candidate Nikol Pashinyan) on various shops and food establishments, sometimes against the wishes of their owners.

It should be noted that this violates Article 21, Part 2.1, Paragraph 2 of the Electoral Code, which prohibits the placement of campaign posters, printed materials, and other campaign materials on public educational institutions, food and trade facilities, elevators, public transport, and vehicles or inside them.

Furthermore, the act of community servants placing campaign materials during working hours instead of fulfilling their official duties evidently contains elements of a crime as defined by Article 441 (abuse of official position) of the RA Criminal Code. Moreover, since it is clear from the secret recordings that some of the property owners or employees do not support the Civil Contract party or Nikol Pashinyan, this can indicate that the placement of the campaign materials was done involuntarily. In this case, the actions of the community servants evidently contain elements of a crime under Article 211, Part 2, Paragraph 3 of the RA Criminal Code.

“We are already preparing a relevant report to the Prosecutor’s Office and a statement to the Central Electoral Commission within the Independent Observer alliance,” Ioannisian added.