The lawyer sees no violation
Co-author of the RA Electoral Code Hrair Tovmasyan sees no violation of the EC in keeping editor-in-chief of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily Nikol Pashinyan in jail during the election campaign.
Let us recall that Nikol Pashinyan's advocates had petitioned the court to release their defendant because he is already a registered candidate. According to Point 6, Article 111 of the Electoral Code, the candidate can be in prison only by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, but there is no such decision for Pashinyan.
"In this case, the CEC has no powers. The Electoral Code doesn't regulate the relations when a person is under arrest before running for office. Point 6 of Article 111 states that a person can't be arrested during the elections and the election period is clear," Hrair Tovmasyan said.
He underlined that the proposition is a guarantee that the registered citizen will not stay out of the campaign. As far as registered candidate Nikol Pashinyan is concerned, Hrair Tovmasyan said:
"The Electoral Code foresees that the person who was initially arrested may conduct his pre-election campaign. In that case, it should be clear that he won't have all the resources that the candidates in liberty have. The candidate in prison may have a two-hour meeting with his proxies."
Tovmasyan believes that equal conditions for competition are violated because the candidate can't have direct contact with his electorate.
Is that a flaw in the Electoral Code? In response, Hrair Tovmasyan said: "From the angle of normal international standards, that proposition is subject to criticism. There are also cases of misusing those propositions. By relying on those propositions, a person may run for office in order to avoid initial arrest. That is why during discussions, representatives of international organizations propose to take that proposition out."
