CC WENT TO RETIRING ROOM
Support A1+!The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia holds a hearing on presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian's claim on February 11th.
Armenia's First President asked the Constitutional Court (CC) to recognise the obstacles thrown in his way at the pre-election period insuperable. He urged Armenia’s highest judicial body to postpone Armenia’s presidential election by two weeks, citing state television’s hostile coverage of his election campaign and related political activities.
In its appeal to the Constitutional Court filed on February 7, the Ter-Petrossian campaign claimed that the “government-controlled Armenian Public Television has been waging a smear campaign against him before and after the official onset of campaigning for the February 19 ballot.” It said the resulting obstacles are “making his further participation in electoral processes impossible although Ter-Petrossian is not intent on discontinuing his fight against the kleptocratic regime but will carry this mission to a victorious end with even greater vigor”
Chairperson of the “Supreme Council” Deputy Club Ruben Torossian presented the facts in the Constitutional Court. H1 and Armenia’s other leading broadcasters loyal to the government have attacked Ter-Petrossian on a virtually daily basis ever since he ended his decade-long political retirement to condemn the country’s “corrupt and criminal” leadership and announce his participation in the presidential ballot. Local media watchdogs have repeatedly criticized them for showing “unprecedented” bias against the ex-president. The other candidates, particularly, Artashes Geghamian, deliberately use the campaign to smear Levon Ter-Petrossian instead of presenting their pre-election programme. “We must formalize the fact that an unprecedented smear campaign is being waged against Levon Ter-Petrossian through the state apparatus and foreign officials. Levon Ter-Petrosian is regularly portrayed in a negative light,” he said.
According to Artak Zeynelian, before appealing to the Constitutional Court they had appealed to the Central Electoral Commission and the Administrative Court to “ensure candidates’ equal rights guaranteed by the constitution.” Specifically, the ex-president wants to get as much airtime as Public Television’s H1 channel, the most accessible in Armenia, has spent covering his activities.
After the hearing, the CC took a break and went to a retiring room to decide whether the disputed obstacles are insuperable or not.
To note, in reply to Ruben Torossian, CC Chairman Gagik Harutiunian noted, “We are not here to consider violations or obstacles. We are to consider the issue of insuperable obstacles.” Gagik Harutiunian’s words imply that he endorses the existing obstacles.
To remind, under Armenia’s Electoral Code, a presidential election can be put off if one of the candidates is deemed to be facing “insurmountable obstacles” in trying to get their message across to voters. If those obstacles are not eliminated by authorities with a two-week period, the vote must be cancelled and held anew within 40 days.
