Electoral Commission Head Prohibits Newspaper Representative’s Presence at Polling Station

Arpine Khachatryan (pictured), the head of the local electoral commission at the 36/39 polling station situated in the village of Sarnaghbyur in Armenia's northwestern Shirak province, refused to register an “Asparez” newspaper reporter at the precinct despite the journalist having presented a passport and an authorization certificate issued by the media outlet, head of the Gyumri-based Asparez Journalists' Club, member of Gyumri Council of Elders Levon Barseghyan reported on his Facebook page, adding to the already existing list of violations recorded during the ongoing draft constitutional amendments referendum.

Barseghyan claims that after 15-minute negotiations the commission head agreed to register the representative of Asparez.am website; however, the official was adamant on registering the newspaper's representative, arguing that the newspaper and the website were the same thing.

“Commission head Arpine Khachatryan failed to understand that 'Asparez' newspaper and 'Asparez.am' website are different media outlets, although they have been founded by the same legal entity […] Thus the electoral commission head has violated Article 40.6 of [Armenia’s Code on Administrative Offences] – logging misconduct, which is punished by a fine of up to 300 times the minimum wage,” the civic activist wrote.

The editor-in-chief of “Azparez” newspaper has reported the “crime pursuant to the RA Criminal Code Article 149 – 'hindrance to implementation of the right to elect, to the work of election commissions or to the implementation of the authority of the person participating in elections' – to the head of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia,” Barseghyan noted.