Akanates reveals Electoral Code violations by representatives of  Pashinyan`s party

ArmInfo. The Akanates observation mission has revealed violations of the Electoral Code of Armenia by representatives of the ruling Civil Contract party, as  reported by Daniel Ioannisyan, founder and head of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO.

He stated that "Akanates," with the support of the "Independent  Observer" team and through hidden camera footage, discovered that  employees of Yerevan's Kanaker-Zeytun district administration were  putting up campaign posters for the Civil Contract party (and its  candidate, Nikol Pashinyan) at a number of shops and food service  establishments—at times against the will of the business owners.

 "Firstly, we note that this violates Article 21, Part 2.1, Clause 2  of the Electoral Code, which prohibits the placement of campaign  posters, campaign literature, and other materials in public schools,  catering and retail establishments, elevators, public transportation,  and taxis. Secondly,  the placement of campaign materials by  municipal utility workers on a workday, during work hours, instead of  performing their official duties, apparently constitutes a crime  under Article 441 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia  (abuse of official authority)," Ioannisyan said.

He also noted that, according to the hidden video recording, the  owners or employees of some facilities do not support the Civil  Contract party or Nikol Pashinyan. This may indicate that the  placement of campaign materials was carried out on an involuntary  basis. "In this case, the actions of the utility workers appear to  constitute a crime under Article 211, Part 2, Clause 3 of the  Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.  The Independent Observer  is already preparing a corresponding report of the crime to the  prosecutor's office and a statement to the Central Electoral  Commission," he said.