Political will is needed
The RA Central Electoral Commission is the body that can give the court an assignment or permission, president of the Central Electoral Commission Garegin Azaryan today told "A1+", touching upon the statement made by editor-in-chief of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily Nikol Pashinyan in court.
According to the statement, National Assembly deputy candidate Nikol Pashinyan had stated that only the Central Electoral Commission can permit the court to keep him locked up.
"As a state body, the CEC has the right to implement actions which it is authorized to do by law, but the CEC is not authorized to do that," added Garegin Azaryan
Member of the CEC Zoya Tadevosyan expressed the opinion that according to the RA "Electoral Code", the government is obliged to ensure equal conditions for all candidates for participation in the campaign. "The CEC is also the government and I think that those obligations are our obligations as well," she said, adding that in this case, the law is open and the CEC doesn't have the opportunity to solve that issue.
As a solution to the problem, she believes that there must be only political will in order to release Nikol Pashinyan by the decision of the CEC. "It is up to our conscience to release Nikol Pashinyan immediately so that he can meet with his voters. If we find the path, the CEC will come out of this fairly. The CEC must win the people's trust," Zoya Tadevosyan underlined.
In the subsequent session, the CEC registered non-partisan Koryun G. Napaetyan and member of the "Prosperous Armenia" party Mkhitar J Harutyunyan elected as deputies from the N8 precinct of Yerevan and the N 25 precinct of the Kotayk Marz as NA deputies.
